


All's Fair

by sarcastrow



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 19:10:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 108,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1522337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastrow/pseuds/sarcastrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Life of the Auror Seamus Finnigan. Some sex, a little quidditch, some sex, fight some death eaters, some sex, Just your average day.<br/>Updating!<br/> And now we continue with Seamus and his true love as they find their way in a brave new world of love and dragons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the Game

 

 

 

All’s Fair

 1

The Game

 

 

“Just like that, Finnigan. Don’t stop. Oh… Yes…Yessss. OH FUCK YESSSS!!!”

Pansy could peel paint. Her screams of pleasure were sometimes hard on Seamus’ ears. She was riding him hard at a full gallop, and he was giving her just as good. Every time she rocked forward he could just see the ruby colored head of his cock almost emerge before plunging yet again into the dark depths of her hot, wet pussy. She had come twice and was on her way to a third very loud orgasm. From the rhythmic banging on the wall he could tell Dean and Luna were at it in the next room. The boys had shared a flat since a few months after the end of the war, and Luna was a fairly constant visitor. She and Dean had fallen in love after finding each other in the basement of Malfoy Manor. It worked well; neither she nor Dean was looking to get married, but they both had a potent sex drive, and she didn’t mind that Dean and Seamus tended to share… everything. In fact, she was rather pleased at that.

Seamus would never have guessed that he would end up as a fuck buddy, confidant and occasional arm candy for Pansy Parkinson. So many from the Magical community who had been on the wrong side in the war had become outcasts that it amazed Seamus sometimes how well Pansy had done. She was the consummate politician, and no one had known, including Pansy, until circumstances made it necessary. She had manipulated her way into the upper echelons of the reconstruction, reparation and rehabilitation movement. Now she was one of the most important fundraisers for several charities, most notably the Muggleborn Restoration Service. She organized charity events like formal balls, speeches given by some of the more famous participants in the war, and she was even successful at getting some of the wizarding businesses to donate a portion of their profits to the efforts. Then there was her head for efficiency; raising money was one thing, spending it wisely was another. She had discovered that she was very good at finding which way to direct the funds so they would do the most good for the most people. 

And the fact that she fucked him like a wild animal was definitely a plus.

She rode him with a passion. She had let her hair grow out of the short bob that she had worn throughout school and her raven tresses fell like a curtain around him. He could smell the perfume she wore in her hair, the wine on her breath and the scent that was just her. Seamus ran his hands up her sides, eliciting a small giggle, and cupped her breasts. He thumbed her nipples and watched as she came again. He loved that; the  gripping of his cock by her strong muscles, the sudden flood of her juices around him and the sound of her wet pussy as he counterthrusted to drive her to even higher pleasures. She raked her fingernails down his torso, leaving the tell tale red marks behind. She never broke the skin, but those marks would bring a smile to Seamus’ face for the next few days as he shaved.

“Fuck, Finnigan, how long are you going to keep this up,” she said a little breathlessly as she ground herself against him.

“As long as me little Slytherin princess wants me to, I’d say. I’ll drive for a while then, shall I?” he said, and pulled her down to him. Seamus flipped them over and laid her on her side, straddled her left leg, put her right over his shoulder and plunged into her again.

“AAIIIEEEAHH,” she screamed, and he heard a giggle from the next room. “Oh fuck, Seamus. Ahh, ahh, yessss…” and she reached around behind her arse to twiddle his balls. “Time for you to come,” she growled.

He looked down at their joining; the bright pink lips of her pussy were just visible under the dark black curls and her clit was standing out like a little baldheaded man. He licked his thumb and began rubbing it in small circles in time with his thrusts. He was close. “Both together then, me lass,” he said, and moved her hand aside to slide a finger up her arse.

“OH GREAT FUCKING MERLIN,” she shouted, and came very hard. “Come right now!!!” she commanded as she spanked his arse hard.

“Fuck, and I will,” he said, and he felt himself fall over the edge. Coming with Pansy had a special charm. Her pussy clutched and rippled on his member with such force that he occasionally became light-headed as a result. He fell over and flopped on the bed beside her

A shout came through the wall. “Nice job, Finnigan!!!” 

“Fuck you, Thomas.” Pansy shouted back, a wicked grin on her face.

“Done that,” was the response.

Seamus laughed. “He’s got you there,” and he licked her nipple just for fun.

“Only because you two ambushed me that night,” she said in mock indignation, slapping him on the shoulder.

Seamus smiled broadly and ran his hand up her thigh. He found her still quivering pussy and slid a finger in, eliciting a gasp. God, she was so wet and ready all the time. “What about the other four times?” He asked as he began to slowly finger fuck her.

“I, uh… Ummm, god, yes,” she said, relaxing into the bed and enjoying what he was doing. “A girl’s got to make sure she likes it now. Oh yes, just like that.”

“And did you, then?” he asked with a knowing smile.

Her answer was to push him down on his back, crawl down his body, and straddle his head with her legs. “Shut up and lick me,” she commanded, and sat on his face.

 _Alright then, how’s a boy to refuse,_ he thought, and slid his tongue up through her folds to swirl around her clit. He was delicate and slow at first, then he felt her mouth sweep over his cock and he moaned into her.

There was a smack as she withdrew. “Like that, do you?” she asked.

He sped up the swirl with his tongue in answer; she moaned and took him all the way to the base of his cock in one swift movement. He wasn’t fully hard again but it still felt like he would come just from that. She continued bobbing up and down on his cock, her tongue swirling around the head on the upstroke while he slid two fingers into her and began to diddle her again.

“DEEEEAANN!!!” Luna’s soft voice sounded from the other room as she came.

Seamus felt cold air on his cock for a moment. “NICE JOB, THOMAS,” she shouted, and took him again.

“Thank you!” he heard through the wall.

Seamus felt and heard her say, “Arsehole,” around his cock.

 

***************

 

Pansy was gone as always when he woke up. He didn’t love Pansy; that was for another girl named Lavender, and that one was recuperating from a wound that went far deeper than the scars on her skin and her monthly transformations. He was, however, severely in lust with Pansy. As he shaved he contemplated the red trails she had left with her fingernails on his chest and sides, and he smiled. The smile faded slightly as he came to the scars. Being an Auror had its drawbacks. After the war they had gone to Neville, the hero, the commander, and he had, in his kind, gentle, polite but incredibly firm way, declined. They had gone to Harry who had told them somewhat less politely that he was retired; Ginny had been less polite than that. She’d slammed the door in their faces and suggested they look up _Chipoltra_ _ Nasus_. 

With Hermione nodding in agreement over his shoulder, Ron had told them to fuck off. 

But Seamus, well, Seamus they had rescued. After the war, angry was a somewhat pale word for Seamus Finnigan. He’d burned in the full fire of his Irish temper. Colin Creevey had been the little brother he’d never had and Seamus took his death harder than anyone, but then again they weren’t there when it happened. Seamus was. The Death Eater had laughed. Colin had been disarmed, and Seamus heard his howls from the _Cruciatus_ across the pitched battle on the lawn; as he ran up, the bastard cast the _Avada Kedavra_ and Seamus lost his mind for a while. They told him he had reduced the man to a bloody pulp in a surprisingly slow amount of time. He’d managed to kill seven other Death Eaters almost casually as the man who had killed Colin cried, begged, blubbered and eventually died from the bombardment of not-quite lethal curses Seamus had sent his way every few moments. 

Then he had developed a vigilante streak and they had sent Bill Weasley to find him and bring him in. Seamus was a very fast and capable young wizard. He was ruthless and resourceful - the Death Eaters he had battled at Hogwarts were a testament to that. But he was not Bill Weasley. Bill had approached Seamus and honorably asked him to surrender his wand and accompany him back to the Ministry. Seamus had, not very politely and with much cursing, declined. Bill said it really wasn’t a choice, and Seamus had drawn his wand. Bill’s was in his hand faster than Seamus could follow. The short but intense fight lasted for about 10 seconds before Seamus was sliding across the floor on his back. Bill asked him one more time, and Seamus had flinched toward his wand to attack again. He woke up in Saint Mungo’s. 

Kingsley was there when he regained consciousness. The offer was fairly straightforward: Come to work for the Auror Department or go to prison. Seamus wisely chose M.L.E. They were familiar with young men with a vengeance streak in the training camps, and he learned to direct his anger with a little more skill and reserve. He had finished the academy at the top of his class and been sent into special investigations. A life of long months of undercover work didn’t lend itself to serious relationships, and what he had with Pansy turned out to be perfect for both of them. He had a good friend with spectacular benefits, and she got to be on the arm of a devastatingly handsome, decorated war hero when they attended her fundraising events. To his surprise, Seamus had found he rather liked the game.

Pansy could chat up almost anybody and have them donating to her charity within a few minutes. She had even made amends with Hermione and secured an invitation to the wedding, a feat that had left Seamus stunned. He was more impressed by that than any of her other accomplishments. He looked back in the mirror and smiled. Tonight was the second annual men versus women all-star Quidditch match. Pansy had had the idea just after the war, and she had gone to Gwenog Jones and Oliver Wood to help her get it off the ground, so to speak. It had taken two full years to finally happen, but when it did it was almost as big as the world cup had been. Up until the last year Pansy herself had actually played one of the chaser positions for the girls’ side. This year they had a full complement of seasoned professionals, including Ginny Potter, who had insisted that her fellow Harpies chaser, Katie Bell, be at her side. 

Seamus was looking forward to the after party. He hadn’t seen Katie in quite a while, and then just the last week he had been invited by Ron and Harry to one of Ginny’s matches. He had been entranced by Katie as she flew. She was not a classic beauty, but she had a body to die for, and she handled a broom with a skill that eluded everyone else on the pitch. Where most women players plaited their hair, Katie let her locks fly loose in the wind. Seamus had been struck by how hot it was to watch this hard-bodied witch, her hair whipping around her, ply the field with such skill.

There was a knock at the bathroom door. “Seamus, may I have my hair brush?” Luna’s dreamy voice said from beyond the door.

He fumbled through the clutter atop the converted chest of drawers that held the sink until he found the old brush. Luna’s mother had given it to her on her eighth birthday; it had been her grandmum’s. He smiled and opened the door to find Luna absolutely naked on the other side. Fortunately for Seamus this wasn’t the first time; she had a tendency to forget her clothes around the flat. Also, Dean was constantly painting her and he preferred her nude when she posed. Hell, he just preferred her nude.

“Your brush, Miss Godiva,” he said, and gallantly handed it to her.

Luna smiled at the reference. “Thank you kind sir,” she said with a bow, turned and walked away with a purposeful rock to her hips.

“Dean, you lucky fuck,” Seamus said under his breath as he watched her retreating arse.

Of course Seamus knew precisely how lucky Dean was. The two boys had grown closer at Hogwarts than most brothers, and they shared so many experiences that it never occurred to them not to share their girlfriends. It wasn’t constantly, but some nights a few glasses of wine would lead to a few more, and then there would be naked bodies in the sitting room. Images floated unbidden into his mind, Luna riding Seamus’ cock while she sucked Dean, Luna on her knees, Dean slamming his long, hard, black cock into her while she jerked and sucked Seamus, Dean sliding into her arse as she lay on top of Seamus with his cock deep in her pussy, and lastly Pansy and Luna showing the boys just what witches learned to do late at night with their _own_ wands. That had been almost too much to bear.

Wine had lead to brandy, and then a few shots of whiskey. After that, the girls had started talking about how in their fifth year the seventh year girls would show them the secrets of female wand lore. Luna, the consummate Ravenclaw, had been fascinated by the difference in styles. The Ravenclaw girls cast a charm that fattened and lubricated the wand. Some would make it pulse rhythmically, some would make it vibrate and move in and out by itself. The Slytherin girls opted for reality. They would cast a particularly sneaky charm on the boys, one they couldn’t detect and never knew about. It would allow the casters wand to exactly duplicate the size, shape, and texture of the boy in question. Pansy had tried practically every boy in the school, and had found much to her surprise that among her favorites was Percy Weasley. The prim and proper assistant to the Minister had a nine inch cock as thick as four of her fingers together.

Pansy had safely stored the images in a small box. All she had to do was say the name, tap her wand on the box, and say the incantation, “ _Penia_ _ Duplis.”_ Luna had ridden Pansy’s wand with abandon as the black haired witch had let her try Percy, Blaise Zabini, the aptly named Oliver Wood, Draco Malfoy, and lastly Severus Snape. Her old head of house was graced with a thick, curved member that, in the right position, tapped her G spot with every stroke. Luna writhed and squealed as Pansy drove her wand, tipped with Snape’s cock, in and out of her quivering pussy. She came over and over until with one earth-shattering scream, she passed out. The boys had watched in utter fascination as, after she had regained consciousness, Luna had modified her own wand. It thickened and took on the appearance of a stack of rings about an inch and a half across. “ _Stimlia_ _ Vagi,”_ Luna had said, and the rings began to roll up and down her wand while the whole thing vibrated in her hand. Pansy had come just as hard as Luna. 

When Pansy had released Luna from a heated kiss after she had come, Seamus pounced. Watching the girls drive each other to such heights had left the boys with rock hard, aching cocks. Seamus drove into Pansy with one thrust, and began fucking her with a passion he hadn’t known he had. Her pussy was bright pink from her previous orgasms, and he watched her come again. Her juices soaked him with spray and his control had left him. “Oh fuck, Pansy, oh FUUCCCKKK!!!!” he had shouted and came harder than he thought possible. Dean had Luna bent over the couch and was slamming into her from behind. As Seamus came she looked at him and did something he was all too familiar with: She crossed her legs and squeezed. Dean came apart. He shouted and panted in an impossibly high voice, then collapsed on top of her.

Seamus shook himself from his reveries and looked down at his now throbbing cock. “Can’t get enough, can you, me lad,” he said to his best little mate. “Just have to see if Luna is up for a little blowy this morning.” Laughing, he let his towel fall to the floor and stepped from the bathroom. “Luna, could you help me with a little problem,” he called, and laughed some more.

 

************

 

“So, bringing Seamus to the match?” Padma Patil asked, and took up her tea.

Pansy grinned, images from the previous evening shoving their way into her mind. “Yes, for a bit. Got to have an arm for the opening ceremony, but I’ll be turning him loose after the match is over. Thomas Greymartin is coming, and I’ve been waiting to get him alone.”

“Would that be a Greymartin Cauldrons, Greymartin?” Padma asked with a sly grin. Padma understood the machinations of Pansy’s plans, but would never have the guts and grace under pressure to pull them off. It made their partnership perfect. Pansy was the public face of the organization, Padma did the intellectual and magical heavy lifting, and they both directed the funds. 

“It would, that” Pansy smiled into her tea. “I got a good practice session in last night, so young master Thomas is in for a night he’ll remember as he’s lying on his death bed.”

“And then he donates to the fund, eh,” Padma laughed. “They have a word for that, you know”

“Yeah, business,” Pansy laughed.

“And Seamus?”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll find something to distract him. After all, decorated war hero, international Auror squad, man who solved the London rail attack,” Pansy sipped her tea, “he’ll do fine.”

“He doesn’t mind you toddling off with another man for the night?”

“I keep telling you, Paddy, we’re not in love. He’s gone a lot, and I’ve got… other priorities. It works for us, and if I need to ‘close a deal’,” she waggled her eyebrows at Padma, “he doesn’t mind.”

Padma looked wistful. “Anthony would freak out,” she said with a smirk.

“Oh, Paddy,” Pansy said. “You know this kind of thing is just not you. Anthony is madly in love, and so are you, so just appreciate that. Lots of folks would trade places with you.” _Besides, Anthony is in my little box, too. I know what you go home to partner, and it’s very, very nice. Trust me,_ she thought. 

“Well make it a nice, profitable evening, then. I expect a significant contribution to the fund if you’re going to curl his toes tonight.”

Pansy smiled wide. “You know me, partner. I’ll have the galleons before he gets lipstick on his cock.”

Padma squirmed in her chair. She was getting incredibly turned on, and she was seriously considering dropping by Goldstein’s fine magical jewelry and fucking her fiancé silly in the back room. Pansy could always tell. “Alright, alright, why don’t you go visit Anthony at the shop, I’ll get back to the office and make the last of the Floo calls.” She rose from her chair and pulled Padma to her feet. “Go on. Get some lipstick on his pubes and fuck him ragged.”

Padma smiled, turned, and practically dashed down the street. “You’re welcome, Anthony,” Pansy muttered to herself, and then laughed.

 

*****************

 

The chime sounded from the other side of the door, and an old, grey, bent elf pulled the door open. “Master Finnigan, welcome back to Parkinson Place. May I take your cloak?”

Seamus smiled at the elf as he stepped through the door. “That’s alright, Eli, I’ll just be picking up Pansy and we’ll be on our way.” A look of sudden remembering crossed his face. “Oh, and did you get that bottle o’ Jameson’s black label I sent you?”

“Oh yes, Master Finnigan. Mistress Pansy gave it to me straight away when she got home from Dublin.” The old elf smiled. “It certainly helps the old bones to rest at night. Thank you so much, Master Finnigan.” 

“Aye, and you’re welcome so much, Eli. She ready then?”

“Soon, Master Finnigan, soon. Will we be seeing you tonight?” the old elf asked.

“Sadly, no,” Seamus said with a smile, “Pansy has a business deal she needs to be closing tonight.”

“You are a remarkable wizard, Master Finnigan,” Eli said, “I’ve seen more than a few on the step begging Mistress Pansy to return their affections, but you, you just don’t seem to mind her… pragmatic approach to men.”

Seamus laughed. “Pragmatic, I like that. Yes, well we fit Eli, I’m not interested in marriage either.” _ Until Lavender is better, anyway._ “I’m just glad she has you to look after her when I’m away.”

Pansy’s voice floated down the stairwell, “I’ll be down in just a minute, Seamus.”

“’S’not a problem, love. I’ll just have Eli make me a drink,” he shouted back up the stairs.

“Would Master Finnigan care for a brandy, then?” Eli asked.

“That’d be great, Eli.”

The elf led Seamus to the sitting room just off the entry hall and poured a three-fingered snifter of brandy for him. Seamus liked this room more than any other in the old mansion, except perhaps Pansy’s bedroom, although that one was usually dark when he was in it, and he was usually only looking at her. This room told the tale of an ancient and powerful Wizarding family, one that had risen to prominence through long years of careful political manipulation. There had been more than one Parkinson Minister for Magic, a member of the family had been on the Wizengamot council for a thousand years, and they had married into the most influential families in Wizarding Europe. Yes, the Parkinsons had done well. Seamus sipped his brandy and contemplated the paintings.

“Welcome back, Mr. Finnigan,” an old man said from his portrait.

“Evening, Alfonse,” Seamus said to the painting, and sipped his drink.

Alfonse Parkinson was Pansy’s great-great grand uncle. His father had been Mugwump and his mother the daughter of the Italian Minister, another carefully calculated merger on the part of the Parkinson Family.  “It’s the Quidditch match tonight, is it?” he asked.

“Yeah, Alfonse, should be a cracking time. Pansy’s not playing this year, though. It’s all pros on both sides.”

“You sound disappointed,” Pansy said from the doorway. Seamus turned and involuntarily drew in a sharp breath. She was dressed in an outfit that resembled a Quidditch uniform, but if she had attempted to play in it would show far more of her body than a proper witch should. The bodice portion barely contained her ample breasts, and the trousers weren’t. It was a dress that imitated trousers, and was slit nearly to her hips. Her hair was down, and she had given it a slight wave. She dripped allure and the promise of wild, carnal pleasure.

“You’ll be getting your donation tonight, that’s for certain,” Seamus told her as her gathered her in his arms. “You? In this outfit? He’s done for,” and he kissed her gently.

“And you’re looking as dashing as ever too, my handsome Auror. I wonder which lucky witch is taking you home tonight?” she said as she drew her hand down the side of his face. 

Seamus laughed, downed the rest of his brandy in one go, swept her up in an embrace, and said, “Let’s go find out, shall we?” With a loud snap they Disapparated from the room.

They reappeared next to an enormous tent in a field outside of Yorkshire. Out among the dales a Quidditch pitch had been conjured into reality by a host of wizards and witches. The old squib farmer who owned the land was gracious and helpful. He had let Pansy and her small army of helpers set up a camp for the foreign players and spectators at one end of his fields, while he had arranged water taps for the campers and a rather large tent for his wizard brother to operate a pub out of at the opposite end. In the center, tucked into one of the dales was the pitch. While not as grand as world cup pitches it was still a large and impressive structure. It bore a striking resemblance to a sailing ship from the 18th century. A huge arrangement of timbers, rigging, and canvas rose from the pit into which the pitch had been set, and it appeared ready to set sail across the verdant landscape. Young elves crawled in the rigging of the sail like canopies that would protect the crowd if it happened to rain. Loud music was coming from the inside of the tent and Pansy steered Seamus away from it and toward the VIP entrance to the pitch.

“No time for that, Finnigan, we’ve got a few hands to shake and people to impress before I turn you loose on the unsuspecting witches of the world,” Pansy said with a laugh.

“Ah, you’re a slave driver, you are,” Seamus responded with a smirk.

Pansy looked at him in mock surprise. “I haven’t broken out my whips… yet,” and she smiled lustily and smacked his arse.

Seamus slid his arm around her waist. “Well come on then, let get this done ‘afore you do,” he said. 

They strode between the tents and after a few minutes came to an entrance to the pitch structure. A sign over the double doors said, “Players and Guests.” Seamus took out his wand and tapped on one of doors. “Seamus Finnigan and Pansy Parkinson,” he said, and the doors opened. They stepped through into a large, tented area. Dozens of round tables were at their end of the tent and a dance floor and bandstand were at the opposite end. Various banners from the Quidditch teams that had supplied the players hung in the air above the dance floor and tables. Dancers twirled and hugged each other close as they swung around the floor. Seamus was impressed, it was still a bit early and a fairly large crowd had already arrived. The same elf band that had played the first annual Dumbledore’s Army reunion was on the stand playing a slow number Seamus didn’t recognize at first. 

_“If I stay here with you girl_

_things_ _just wouldn’t be the same._

_So I must be travelling on now,”_

Seamus laughed loudly, “You are feckin kidding me. Free Bird?”

Pansy turned to him, bemused. “It’s an old, American Muggle song,” Seamus told her, “very popular. Me dad used to bring out his guitar from time to time when I was a wee lad, and in amongst the Van Morrison he’d play some other tunes. This was one.” He laughed again. “It’s become a bit o’ a joke, really. You’re supposed to hold a cigarette lighter over your head and wave it back and forth slowly. Like this.”  He lit the end of his wand, held it up over his head, and slowly moved it back and forth to the rhythm of the song.

“Fascinating,” Pansy said dryly. 

Seamus smiled and shook his head. “Guess it’s all about context. Come on, then,” he said, and he led her toward the stage where he had just seen Padma and Anthony.

As they made their way through the tables and to the bandstand Pansy pulled a champagne flute from a passing waiter’s tray and stopped to greet a few players and some of the higher profile donors. Seamus was very proud of his friend; his dad would have said she worked the room like a royal. She moved gracefully from table to table and group to group, thanking each person by name for coming and donating their time and money to her charity. 

********************************************************


	2. The Match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One great game, and the Quidditch match is fun too.

 

 All’s Fair

2 

The Match

 

 

Katie Bell watched as Seamus and Pansy entered the room. She’d been watching Seamus Finnigan for a long time. From his first year at Hogwarts to the tense moments of the final battle, she had been enthralled by the handsome Irishman. She’d thought him cute and cuddly as he sat on the stool with the sorting hat on his head debating which house to put him in. He’d told her much later, in a quiet moment in April of ‘98 while they waited in the Room of Requirement, that the hat had been torn between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Now she could see why: he moved in tandem with Parkinson, smiling at the appropriate times and laughing at her jokes with a polite restraint that seemed to have eluded him at school. She was a year his senior but that didn’t matter now as they were both over twenty and far from those days of thinking that a year’s difference made any difference at all. Now he was a grown man, and an extraordinarily handsome one. His sandy hair was just a bit longer than the norm, _probably from long weeks of neglect while he was on assignment_ , she thought, and he carried himself with a confidence born of hard experience.

She had been there for a few of those experiences; she had been there when he had been tortured by the Carrows for cheering about Harry’s triumph at the Ministry, and his eluding of the Death Eaters yet again. She had been there as Neville had pulled Seamus’ wand from his hand and said, “Enough,” the Death Eater who’d killed Colin a bloody mass at Seamus’ feet; she had yearned to hold him as he wept by Lavender’s bedside. Katie knew he wasn’t in love with Parkinson and she was fairly certain Parkinson knew that too, because anyone who really knew Seamus knew he belonged heart and soul to Lavender Brown. That was okay though, because obviously he wasn’t waiting around moping over her, and that was just fine with Katie. She liked Lavender well enough, _but all’s fair,_ she thought to herself. If Lavender was going to be self-indulgent, self-pitying and dense enough to let him go, then there were plenty of other girls who would stand in her place. Katie waved to him as they approached.

“Chaser Bell, as I live and breathe,” Seamus said as he walked up. “Pansy, you remember Katie Bell?” he asked the dark haired witch on his arm.

“Of course,” Pansy said, extending her hand. Katie took it and Pansy continued, “Ginny Potter wouldn’t play unless she had you by her side. I’ve been to several of your matches, and I understand why.”

“Pansy’s a bit of a Quidditch fan,” Seamus said, “It’s a sad thing that only the hardcore fans know how important you are to the Harpies’ stats. You have more assists than anyone, man or woman, in the league.”

“Oh, well thank you both,” Katie said, “I just do my job. If it gets noticed that’s great, but frankly I’m not concerned about recognition. It seems a bit of a pain in the arse to be honest, especially for Ginny. First she’s hounded by the press for marrying ‘The Chosen One,’ and then she’s top scoring chaser in the league. Bloody press wouldn’t leave her alone all last year. They camped out just beyond the boundary at the Burrow for the better part of two weeks until George Weasley took matters into his own hands.”

Pansy laughed. “That was George Weasley? I should have known.”

“What happened?” Seamus asked.

“What, do you live under a rock?” Katie asked with a laugh. “It was in the Prophet, buried in the back but it was there, and it was front page on the Quibbler. People talked about it for weeks.”

“Aye, well I must have been out of touch. I am you know, from time to time,” Seamus said with a sly smile.

“Come to think of it, I think it was during one of your… absences,” Pansy said.

“Will one of you lovely lasses tell me what happened, then?” Seamus said, slightly exasperated.

Pansy looked at Katie with a _go right ahead_ expression.

Katie took a sip from her water, she never drank alcohol before a match, and began the tale. “Well you see, after the wedding they were having a bit of trouble with privacy, and they finally went down to the Burrow to get away from the creeps sneaking through the wards of their flat and ambushing them for pictures and interviews. You know, one would think after Ginny hexed the living shit out of a few of them that they’d have given it up as a bad idea, but no, they just kept on. Worse than the Muggle press sometimes, ours is,” she rolled her eyes, “Anyway, they were at the Burrow and the press had set up a kind of tent town just outside the wards. They couldn’t get through Molly, Arthur and Bill Weasley’s work, but it was becoming a right troublesome time to go to the market to shop, so George took matters into his own hands.”

“Yeah, well what the feck did he do?” Seamus asked, maddened and smiling.

“Keep your trousers on, Seamus, I’m getting there.” She smirked and blushed a little at the thought of a trouser-less Seamus. “George made his way into the camp and set off one of the Wheezes’ experimental products, a kind of a sex bomb.” She broke into giggles and then full-on laughter, and Pansy joined in heartily. When they had composed themselves, Katie continued, “It’s a derivative of Cornish pixie dust gathered during their mating season.”

Seamus nodded. Pixie dust was a renowned aphrodisiac.

“So he sets off this little bomb in the middle of the night and all the reporters and paparazzi rush out to see what’s happening,” and Katie had another laughing fit, “Then they got the full effect from the bomb. It sort of dissolved into an on-the-spot orgy, and George was there at the ready.”

“What, did he get in on it?” Seamus asked.

“Oh no, no,” and Katie smiled wickedly. “He was there with a camera of his own, got some great shots.” Pansy was silently shaking at Seamus’ side. She’d had her fair share of run-ins with the press after the war. “George got the goods on every one of them. I dated Lee Jordan for a while, and one night when I was at their flat they showed me the pictures. All those wankers with superiority complexes were taking it any way they could. The best bit was Skeeter, though.”

Pansy’s eyes shot up. “What about Skeeter?” she asked viciously. She hated Rita Skeeter for publishing the smear job that landed her parents in prison for two years.

Katie smirked. “Not a fan, Pansy?” she laughed, “I suppose not. Well, it turned out that Rita was… how shall I say… the belle of the ball. She’ll not be troubling anyone we care about ever again. You see, George has a whole series of pictures devoted to her. He somehow got hold of a really great invisibility cloak, and he was right in the thick of the action. He got pictures of Rita giving the editor of the prophet a blow job, then fucking him while she blew another reporter. There’s a set of her with two of the paparazzi; one’s in her arse and the other is the right way round.” Katie suddenly realized where she was and to whom she was talking. “Oh, I shouldn’t get so graphic here; it’s just so good, though.”

“’S okay,” Seamus said. “I cast _muffliato_ when you started.” He twirled his wand in his fingers. Katie hadn’t even seen him draw it.

 “You’re good,” she said, impressed.

He shrugged his shoulders. “So they tell me. Go on.”

“Well, it basically continued the whole night, and George has pictures of it all. As there were more men than women in the camp, he got some fairly embarrassing shots of some of the more macho members of the press doing things that might cast doubt on their… manliness.” She actually cackled. “And then the next morning, George waltzes into the camp and calls a meeting. He spreads these photos all over a table and announces that they will be moving on and never darkening their door again. Worked beautifully.”

“I never heard the whole story,” Pansy said, “I knew something had gone down. The Quibbler said there was some sort of very embarrassing event for the press corps and that the press had backed off because of some kind of threat. The rumors were everything from dark magic to prostitutes, but I never knew the true genius of what Weasley had done. I’ll have to drop by his shop and congratulate him, and thank him, too.” A conspiratorial smile lit her face. “Maybe for the right price I can get him to part with one or two of Skeeter’s photos. Those could be handy.”

“That brain of yours never stops, does it?” Seamus asked her, grinning.

Pansy looked at him, an expression of confidence on her face. “Never,” she said, “Oh and speaking of that, there’s Thomas Greymartin. Hmm.” She looked thoughtful. Seamus knew that look. It meant her brain was in overdrive, working out the machinations of some intricate plot. “Change of plan, Seamus, I think I’ll start working on Greymartin now. Would you be a dear and escort me to him?”

“Why of course, me lady,” Seamus said in full brogue, and turned to Katie. “I’ll be handing Pansy off to Mr. Greymartin over there. D’you mind if I come back and we chat some more?”

Katie looked puzzled for a moment then shrugged her shoulders. “Okay,” she said.

Seamus led pansy across the dance floor to where Pansy’s mark for the evening stood talking to Oliver Wood. The two Gryffindors greeted each other warmly. Oliver introduced Pansy and Seamus to Mr. Greymartin, who was obviously immediately enchanted by Pansy. Katie was impressed. Pansy worked the man with a subtle precision that only a woman could spot: a coy laugh, a slight touch on the arm, a self-deprecating motion at her dress, a fluff of the breasts, and then a twirl that revealed a great deal of leg. _Style,_ she thought to herself, _that one’s always had style._ Seamus laughed at some joke of Pansy’s, and as Katie watched he shook Mr.  Greymartin’s hand and deftly gave him Pansy’s arm.

A few moments later the handsome Irishman was back at her table. “Well, I suppose I’m set free for the rest of the evening. Are you waiting for someone?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m just holding a table for the rest of the team,” she told him.

“Ah, well what I meant was are you here with someone, or can I offer you an arm for the after-party?” he asked.

Katie beamed at him. “Why Mr. Finnigan, I’d love to, and we’ll be celebrating a win, I’ll wager.”

The Irish in Seamus pounced on the word ‘wager.’ “A gambling woman, are you? What would you be willing bet, then?” he asked.

An evil light shone in her eyes. _Let’s just see how open you are._ “Well, I never bet money. I always like to wager something more… personal.” She pondered for a moment.  “I know: knickers. We win, I get yours. They win, you get mine.”

Seamus roared with laughter. “Done and done,” he said, and shook her hand.

“So what’s with you and Parkinson?” she asked.

“Oh, Pansy and I are really good friends,” he told her, “She really changed… Well, not really changed, ‘tis more that people got to know the real her after the war. She weren’t a true believer in Riddle’s plans and philosophy; it’s just being Slytherin and a Parkinson, she was forced into being on that side.”

“What about when she wanted to turn Harry over to… _him_?” she said darkly.

“Let me ask you something,” Seamus said seriously, “Do you think she didn’t know that all of Gryffindor, all of Hufflepuff and most of Ravenclaw were in Dumbledore’s Army by that time?”

Katie had never considered that. “No,” she said tentatively.

“Right. So do you think she thought that we would actually turn Harry over?”

“Hmm, no.”

“Aye, look what she accomplished with that one statement,” he said, “All of Slytherin was escorted from the school and taken out of our way so we could fight without watching our backs.”

Katie was stunned. “Bloody brilliant!” she said, impressed. “Why doesn’t everybody know that?”

Seamus shrugged. “We’ve moved on,” he said simply, “People want to get on with life and heal the wounds from the war. When her parents got sent to prison, she had to take over the running of the family and the family business, however obviously she was sorted into Slytherin for a reason. She’s wicked smart, especially when it comes to manipulating people to do what she wants, and she has a real head for how to run a business. That’s what makes her so good at this charity thing.” He plucked a champagne flute from a passing tray.

“Do enjoy your drink, sir,” the little elf under it said.

“I will, thanks,” Seamus said. “You remember Padma Patil?” he asked Katie.

“Yes.”

“She’s Pansy’s partner.” At Katie’s questioning look he laughed, “Business partner, handles the day to day while Pansy raises the money. Pansy likes men, trust me, and Padma’s marrying Anthony Goldstein in a few months.” He chuckled. “Anyway, Pan and I are friends. Neither one of us is looking for anything serious. I’m away too much to make any woman happy, and she, well, she just likes… variety.” He smirked and took a sip from the champagne.

Katie considered this for a moment. It seemed a reasonable relationship. She herself hadn’t gotten involved seriously for just those reasons. “And you don’t mind her…” she looked toward the stage where Pansy was cunningly drawing Greymartin into her trap.

Seamus smiled broadly. “She’s a player, and this is her game. No, I don’t mind, and neither does she.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

Katie’s mind drifted to thoughts of what she would like to do to the well-dressed, confident, fine specimen of a man before her, and her knickers became suddenly damp. “Um, yes, well I, uh, oh look, there’s the rest of the team. Do you mind? I think they’ll want to talk strategy.” She leaned into him and let her breath tickle his ear. “Can you find me at the after party and we’ll settle our bet?” she asked in a whisper.

“Absolutely, Miss Bell,” he said, and with a flourish he kissed her hand.

_You are in for it tonight, Mr. Finnigan,_ she thought. “I’ll be looking for you,” she said, and waved to her teammates.

As Ginny Potter, Nicole Konos, Gwenog Jones and the rest of the team gathered around the table, Seamus bade them hello and farewell and wandered off toward where he had just seen Minister Shacklebolt.

*

“Thomas, this is my partner Padma Patil and her fiancé, Anthony Goldstein. Padma, Anthony, this is Thomas Greymartin,” Pansy said.

Thomas took Padma’s hand. “A pleasure, Pansy says you can fill me in on the particulars of how the Muggle Born Restoration Fund spends its money.”

“That I can, Mr. Greymartin,” Padma replied, “We make very sure no monies are wasted, and every dime goes to help those most damaged by the war. We’ve done a great deal but there’s still a long road ahead.”

“Excellent, and call me Thomas, please. Mr. Greymartin makes me feel so old.” He laughed and turned to Anthony. “Goldstein’s Fine Magical Jewelry?” he asked.

Anthony nodded. “Greymartin Cauldrons?”

Thomas nodded, and the two men shared a moment of understanding. They had both been born to a certain class, and a certain destiny. Both were bound to their families business, and it was a shared curse and blessing.

Pansy placed her hand on Thomas’s arm and turned him to her. “Could I leave you with Padma for a bit? She can answer any questions you might have, and I need to give a pep talk to the ladies’ team.”

He smiled and kissed her hand. “Of course.”

“Good, I’ll just be a few minutes, and then we’ll head up to the pitch for the opening ceremony and the match.” She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

_God, you’re good,_ Padma thought and gave her partner a wink.

Pansy smiled at them all and strode away toward the women’s team.

As she approached, Pansy heard the end of story Gwenog Jones was telling. “And so I’m flying all over the pitch making these incredible shots, and my knickers are swinging in the breeze off the brush end of my broom. Bloody team didn’t even tell me till practice was over. Bitches, all of you,” and the table erupted in laughter.

Pansy joined in their levity and then got their attention. “Ladies… ladies, I’d like to have a word with you before the game. Shall we adjourn to the locker room?”

The women grabbed the snacks and drinks from the table, and made their way toward the locker entrance. “What’s up, Pansy?” Michelle Ombagi, a tall black woman asked.

“Oh, just a little strategy session. You girls don’t play together regularly so I thought we’d discuss tactics a little,” and Pansy lowered her voice to a whisper, “Plus I’ve got a little something to give us an edge.”

Nicole’s eyebrows rose. “Just wait for it,” Pansy said, “You’ll love it.”

The locker room looked like a sultan’s seraglio; the lockers themselves were steamer trunks and large puffs sat before them. The shower area was opulently tiled in a mosaic depicting naked witches aboard their brooms, and was curtained by red and gold silks. The floor of the rest of room was carpeted in hand woven rugs, and the ceiling was a mass of silks in a riot of colors. The women were impressed, and told Pansy so.

“Beautiful,” a Russian voice said from her side.

Pansy turned to the woman. “Yes, it’s perfect isn’t it, Yelena? The decorators followed my instructions to the letter. Thank you for coming from Saint Petersburg by the way, I was thrilled when you accepted.”

“I had to vatch from the stands last year,” she said, “I vas not going to do that this year. The margin of the men’s victory was so slim, I knew we could defeat them this year vith my help.”

Pansy laughed. “Well I’ve got a little something to give us a bit of an edge. Gather round ladies, gather round.” She produced a perfume bottle from her dress. “This, ladies is some very special perfume. Now, I’ve been through the rule book ten times, and this is perfectly legal.”

“What is it?” Ginny Potter asked.

“Hermione didn’t tell you? Gods, she can keep a secret!” Pansy held the little atomizer up so the rest could see it. “Mrs. Potter’s sister-in-law is a right dab hand at potions, and I enlisted her help in creating this. You see, she and I have lunch from time to time to discuss what the charity should do next, and one day not so long ago our discussion drifted away from the charity, as it often does.” She laughed to herself, and then continued, “Well, it drifted into Muggle science, and she told me about this research they are doing into the chemistry of attraction. They’ve discovered this thing called pheromones. They’re a kind of chemical that living things make to attract mates. We make them too and this,” she twirled the bottle in her fingertips and the faceted surface glinted in the light, “is concentrated essence of woman. It’d give a dead man a hard-on.”

There was a chorus of _oohs_ and _ahhs_ , some skeptical looks and giggles from the women.

Pansy let them digest the information and continued, “Now I know you’re thinking that this might be a bit unfair, but really, aren’t you going to be a bit distracted flying around the pitch with Victor Krum, Oliver Wood, and Jacques Elley? I think it’ll serve them right if they have to deal with… arousal issues,” and the women laughed. “It won’t trigger the foul wards, either. It’s not a potion, it’s simply a perfume. The only magic involved was in gathering and concentrating the pheromones. Just be sure to shower well after the match because it really works. Hermione reports that her husband – ”

“You can stop right there, Pansy,” Ginny interrupted.

“Fair enough,” she chuckled. “Suffice to say, it works.”

“How’s it smell?” Koni Yoshida asked from the back.

“The base is a nice, neutral flower scent. Here, try it out.” She handed the bottle to the young Japanese woman and backed away. At Koni’s bemused look Pansy said, “I have to go out among the public in a bit, and I don’t want a bunch of men following me around like dogs.”

Koni gave the bulb a small squeeze and a fine mist of perfume sprayed from the nozzle. “Hai, yes, very nice,” she said, and misted her hair.

The rest of the women sniffed the air. There was a flurry of activity as the bottle was passed from hand to hand, and soon the whole team was scented with the perfume.

Pansy grinned from the doorway. “Have a good match ladies, I’ll be cheering you on from the VIP box,” and laughing, she closed the door.

*

“Witches and wizards, welcome to the fifth annual International All Star Men versus Women Quidditch Match,” Pansy’s voice boomed throughout the pitch. “I am your host, Pansy Parkinson, and it’s my pleasure to introduce Sarah Mullet, former chaser for the Irish national team, who will call the game for us, and Arnold Armstrong, Keeper for the Philadelphia Phoenix, who will provide commentary.” The man and woman standing next to Pansy waved and bowed to the cheers of the crowd. “We at United Wizarding Charities thank you for your generous support, and bid you enjoy the match. Every galleon raised today will help those in need! Thank you again, and now on to the match!”

A great roar erupted from the crowd. Sarah Mullet’s soft brogue resounded around the pitch. “Introducing the international all-star men’s team; at chaser Sean Troy, all Ireland, Jacques Elley, French national, and Enrique Sandoval, Brazil.”  Another huge roar went through the stands as three men on brooms zoomed from the tunnel-like entrance of the men’s locker room and into the air. They were trailing multicolored smoke from their brooms, and wove a great braided pattern across the pitch. “At beater, Sven Langstrom, Sweden, and Mustafa Kalil, Kashmir.” The two men were preceded from the locker entrance by two bright balls of light. They sped out onto the pitch and batted the balls back and forth between them until with two great blows the balls exploded into a glittering shower of silver sparks. The two men then soared into position next to their teammates. “At keeper, Oliver Wood, England.” Wood shot from the entrance and three great balls of light were on his tail. As he swooped in front of the goals, the balls attempted to zoom through the hoops. One, two, three, he swatted them away and they burst in a shower of sparks. “And at seeker,” Ms. Mullet continued, “playing his final game before becoming coach of the Bulgarian national team, Victor Krum!”

A flock of yellow-gold birds flew from the locker room entrance, then nothing happened for several seconds and a hushed whisper went through the crowd. Suddenly a black streak exploded from the mouth of the tunnel. He was everywhere at once, twisting and turning around the pitch, snatching the little birds as they spun and wove, trying to elude him. In less than a minute he had gathered every one into a small bag. With a flourish he tossed the bag into the air and it burst into thousands of small sparkling golden packets that fell into the crowd, who quickly discovered they were individually wrapped caramels from his native Bulgaria.

“Now that’s what I call an entrance,” Thomas said from Pansy’s side. “I’ve met Victor Krum, he can barely walk without tripping over his own feet, but on a broom he’s an artist.” He laughed. “Your girls are going to have to do something really special to top that.”

Pansy smiled confidently up at him. “Yes, they will,” she said.

“And now, please welcome the international all star women’s team,” Ms. Mullet called. The lights dimmed and Fleur Weasley strode onto the pitch and walked to the center ring. Light, symphonic music lilted through the air, and she began to sing.

“We love, we live, we fight, we play for you.

We fly to reach the highest stars,

And wrap you in our loving arms

We soar on gilded clouds to win for you.”

The crowd had gone completely silent. Fleur’s voice had entranced them, and as Pansy looked around she could see tears shining in the eyes of the women around her.

“At chaser,” Mullets voice softly said, “Gwenog Jones, Wales, Kathrin Bell and Ginevra Potter, England.”

There was a sudden crescendo in the music, and with a thunderclap the three women appeared in a flash hovering on their brooms a hundred feet over the center of the pitch. There was a second’s pause as the crowd realized they were there and then they soared off in different directions, streaking around the pitch, a glittering silver mist in their wake.

The music swelled and took on a faster tempo. Fleur continued.

“To ride the wind in moonlit bliss

To save for you a lover’s kiss

Let troubles fly, let them fly.”

As Fleur sang the three women shot around the pitch clockwise, skimming just over the heads of the crowd as they rose from the turf side to the top of the stands. When they cleared the top of the stands they wheeled and dove toward Fleur. They converged just over her head and tucked into a tight formation barely a foot apart and shot straight up. They rose in a tight spiral leaving a sparkling silver rope of mist behind. At the pinnacle they peeled apart in a flower formation and dove back to hover just behind Fleur. A huge roar went up from the stands.

“We found our calling long ago for you

To strike a resounding blow,

To smite the wicked foe,

To guard our precious tribe and win for you.”

“At beater,” the smile was obvious in Ms. Mullet’s voice. “Michelle Ombagi, Nairobi, and Nicole Konos, Greece.” The same thunderclap sounded through the stadium as the two women burst into reality in the same spot as the chasers had.

“Defend the tribe, our woman’s pride

On brooms we ride, bats by our side.

Let troubles fly, let them fly.”

At the words, “tribe” and “pride”, Fleur pointed her wand at each end of the pitch in turn and conjured a huge dragon made of fire over the hoops. As she finished the verse the flaming serpents took off after the beaters, shooting flaming balls at them. The two women deftly batted the fire balls away while swooping through the hoops and over the stands. At last they turned and dove straight at the dragons. Each one shot a final fire ball at the two beaters who, with tremendous swats, knocked the flaming balls back down the dragons throats and they exploded in red, green, and blue sparks. The roar from the crowd was deafening as the two beaters joined their teammates.

“Our hearth and home kept warm and safe for you

I keep our home safe from the world

Our refuge from the spin and whirl

I bar the door and save the win for you.”

“At keeper, Yelena Fatalovitch, Russia,” Ms. Mullet’s voice said quietly.

Yelena apparated with a thunderclap and flash directly in front of the goal hoops. At almost the same instant a dozen balls of light swooped over the opposite end of the stadium and sped toward the woman keeper. She flew out from the goals to meet them and in a blur of motion she swatted, kicked, and caught the balls. None made it through. The cheers from the crowd were constant and Fleur ramped up the volume of her singing to match.

“I search the sky to catch the win for you

I’ll find the prize, and claim victory

Tonight we let our hair fly free

We soar on gilded clouds to win for you.”

“At seeker, Koni Yoshida, Japan.” Ms. Mullet announced, and a red and black blur streaked over the top of the stands and into the stadium. The six women hovering on their brooms released six golden balls that spun up into the air and began racing around the pitch.

As Koni sped around the stadium, deftly gathering up the little golden balls, Victor Krum leaned over and spoke to Oliver Wood. “I think ve may be in trouble,” he said.

The music swelled to a finish and Fleur took a bow, then gestured to the women hovering on their brooms. The seven women shot forward once more. They closed on the spot just above the center of the pitch then shot straight up in a tight, circular formation, spiraling skyward and leaving a trail of silver sparks behind them.

“Oh yeah, we’re in trouble,” Wood said.

The women’s team peeled away at the apex of the pillar of silver sparks, leaving another huge flower pattern in the sky. The crowd was thundering in cheers and applause as they reformed at the far goal hoops and waited for the referee.

“Our teams are in place,” Arnold Armstrong said, “now let’s meet tonight’s officials.”

Two men in referee uniforms emerged from the sidelines and mounted brooms.

“From Italy,” Armstrong continued, “the star beater for the Rome Centurions, Lino Tortalia, and from Mexico, Captain of the Yucatan Quetzal, Edwardo Tampas.”

There were polite cheers for the officials from the crowd as the two men flew up to hover over the center of the pitch and motioned for the two teams to join them. The men flew up, and formed a half circle on their side and the women followed suit.

The Italian referee addressed the two teams, “Alright, Signors, Signoras. I would like to see the same kind of game we had last year. I will allow a full-on game, but at the first sign of rough play I will warn the party involved, after that penalties will be assessed. Are we clear?”

“We promise to be perfect gentlemen,” Oliver Wood said.

Ginny flew forward so that her broom was tip to tip with Wood’s. “And _we_ promise to be ladylike…  ish,” she said with a smile, and held out her hand to Wood. They shook hands, and a breath of breeze wafted her scent to the men. Ginny smiled as she noticed them squirm slightly on their brooms. _This certainly will be interesting,_ she thought.

The players assumed their starting positions, the chasers hovering forty feet above the center ring of the pitch, the beaters halfway to the goals, the keepers at their goals, and the two seekers flying freely around the pitch.

“Referee Tampas descends to the chest,” Mullet announced to the crowd. “The snitch and bludgers are released, and Tampas lofts the quaffle into play.” A roar went up as Sean Troy got to the ball first. “Troy down the pitch, near snatch by Jones, Troy pitches to Elley, to Sandoval, back to Elley. SNATCHED BY POTTER!” A huge cheer sounded through the stands. “Potter! Potter to Jones, Jones down the pitch. Wood takes position. Ellison cut by Bell!” Katie flew directly between Oliver Wood and Ginny, temporarily blocking his view. “Potter to Bell, backhand toss to Potter, Goal!!!”

“A classic maneuver, Sarah,” Arnold Armstrong said. “You young league players out there, take note. That was a perfect execution, and just like that the women are up by ten.”

“Yes, Arnold, and the men reform. Sandoval with the quaffle, down the pitch. Sandoval… Sandoval to Elley,” Elley brought his broom to a dead stop and pitched the quaffle straight up to Troy , then leaned all the way down on his broom and shot forward like an arrow.  “Elley up-ends and pitches to Troy, Troy back to Elley. Elley takes a shot at goal. Save by Fatalovitch!”

“What a save! I thought the men had a sure ten there.”

“Well Arnold, these are the best women players in the world. I’d take nothing for granted if I were you.”

“Very good advice Sarah, looks like the men are setting the Bulgarian defense up for the women’s next run at goal. So far the beaters have been out of play, haven’t seen a bludger get near the chasers. Krum and Yoshida seem to be just flying around the pitch. I’m sure the chase will be on soon, though.”

Yelena flew a bit out from her goal to meet the women chasers circling back to her. The men had set two chasers on either side on the hoops halfway to center pitch, and one almost at turf level. The two beaters circled above center pitch sending the bludgers at the women as they came back up the pitch with the quaffle.

“Bell in the lead this time, bludgers nicely deflected by Ombagi and Konos,” Sarah called. “Up pitch in the standard… Bell to potter, Potter drops the quaffle! Caught by Jones in a Taylor spiral.” The pass had been intentionally mishandled to distract the oncoming men’s chasers. Gwenog shot forward just before the pass, and as the men’s chasers dove for the falling ball she appeared from nowhere at full speed, plucked the quaffle out of the air, and spiraled up through the oncoming men before they knew what was happening. The girls were starting to sweat from the exertion, and the perfume they had almost forgotten began to vaporize and pervade the air immediately around them.  As Jacques Elley bore down on Gwenog from behind, he slipped into her draft and was immersed in her scent. His mind wandered almost immediately. Gwenog was almost forty and at the height of her sexuality. All the women had chosen to let their hair free this evening, Katie had shown them a charm that made it stay clear of their eyes and arms while floating in an almost underwater way around them. Jacques stared at Gwenog’s arse. His mind filled with a vision of her on her knees and him driving his cock into her, her muscled thighs squeezing his cock until he came with a shout. He flew straight by the goal and almost into the stands before he regained his senses.

“Jones down the pitch, Elley on her tail,” Sarah announced. “Jones pulls up short and passes to Bell, Bell to Potter, Potter to Jones. Elley has flown off the pitch. Jones tries for… Goal!”

“I don’t know what Jacques was thinking, Sarah,” Arnold said. “He seemed totally lost, almost took a seat with the fans there.”

The men weren’t completely at a loss though, and their next possession saw them come back up the pitch in a flurry of bludgers and passes to score on Yelena.

“Twenty to ten in favor of the women,” Sarah said proudly. “This is turning into one of the great games I’ve seen, Arnold.”

Arnold laughed. “I was a bit concerned at the miss by Elley earlier but the men seem to have shaken that off and are back with a passion.”

They were, but the perfume was starting to really have an effect on their concentration, and their ability to ride. Every man on the pitch was struggling with unwanted wood. Even Krum with his stoic nature was having trouble. Koni Yoshida was a vision. At barely eight stone dripping wet, she was small, tight-bodied, and stunningly pretty. Whenever she passed him as they searched for the snitch he caught a flowery scent and he thought of deeply wrong things.  The fact that she rode her broom in an almost sensual way didn’t help. Victor swooped in behind her as she feinted and a scene of carnal debauchery formed in his mind.

Koni swayed before him, ivory skinned with jet black hair. The dark curls above her pussy were trimmed but not shaven, and she slowly rotated her hips in a way that made his cock ache. Victor was undone, he had to take her, then and there. He pushed her to the bed and dove into her warm, wet center, tasting her, reveling in her scent. Then he rose, crawled up her body, and pressed the head of his cock at her entrance.

Suddenly he was back in flight, diving straight at the ground. He pulled up just in time and brought a few bits of turf on his toes back up into the air with him. “Vat the fuck?’ he said to himself, and shook his head.

“Krum almost got plowed there,” Arnold said. “Very unusual for Victor to lose his focus like that. The men must be struggling with all these beautiful women on the pitch.”

“No different than the women having to deal with all those staggeringly handsome men, Arnold,” Sarah said with a note of chastisement.

Armstrong laughed. “Point to Mullet,” he said.

The game got intense. The men, for the most part, found a way to ignore the unwanted fantasies that would enter their mind whenever they got within ten feet of the women, but the physical reaction they were having to the perfume they couldn’t ignore. The women scored again and then the men went on a thirty to naught run, and the score was men ten up. Katie circled back to Ginny when the action paused as the men regrouped.

“Ellison cut again?” Katie asked as Gwenog flew up.

“Yeah,” Gwenog replied a bit breathless. “I’ll snatch,” and she flew off down the pitch toward the oncoming men.

Katie and Ginny took up wedge positions behind her. As they reached the quarter pitch markers Gwenog pulled up slightly as Katie and Ginny bore down on their brooms for maximum speed.

“We call this chicken in the States,” Armstrong said as he watched the two women head straight at the men. 

The two women shot through the men’s formation and Gwenog was right behind them. The front end of her broom connected with the quaffle in Enrique Sandoval’s arms so hard it shot fifty feet into the air. Katie had executed an impossibly tight turn and was there before anyone else. The quaffle was in her hands for three seconds and she passed to Ginny.

“I’ve never seen a woman do the Stanoslave steal,” Mullet said in wonder. “It’s one of the most dangerous moves in Quidditch. That, however, was a perfect execution. Unbelievable.”

Armstrong’s voice held equal admiration. “And here come the women again, Sarah.”

**************************************


	3. Winnings

 All’s Fair

 3

Winnings

 

 

Pansy threw the door of the locker room open, and with an air of triumph strode into the room. “Ladies, ladies, that was one of the best matches I’ve ever attended. You were astounding!” 

Gwenog laughed. “That was great fun, and I’m glad the boys put up the good fight, but they really had no chance, did they?”

“Don’t discount your skills, girls. They were a bit distracted at first, but they were able to… suppress their animal instincts?” Pansy dissolved into a fit of quite girlish giggles for a moment before continuing, “Sorry. It was hilarious to watch them try to get hold of themselves,” she laughed even harder, “which I’m sure they’re doing right now,” and she doubled over in laughter. The other women joined her, laughing as they stripped for their showers, and after Pansy recovered a bit she was able to talk. “Poor boys,” she said, “Maybe you should apparate over and console them.”

“Hmm, Jaques Elley in the shower,” Nicole Konos said.

Koni Yoshida’s eyebrows arched. “And Viktor Krum.”

“Yes, vell that is a nice thought,” Yelena said, “But aren’t the apparition wards up?”

Pansy smiled the same slightly evil, superior grin she had perfected in school. “The wards are up _around_ the locker rooms, not _between them,_ girls.”

“You’re so bad,” Ginny said as she stripped, “I love it. I, however, am married still,” and her knickers flew into her locker, “You girls are all single, you should pop over and… what did Pansy say? Oh yeah, console them. I would if I were you.”

“It’s a fun idea,” Michelle Ombagi put in as she, too, rapidly shucked her uniform and pads, “But where would we keep our wands?”

Ginny tucked hers behind her ear. “Oh I don’t know, I think you’ll find a spot,” she said with a smirk.

Katie Bell lightly slapped the back of her head. “Show off,” she said.

Ginny pouted in mock indignation. “Hey, Luna’s been doing this the whole time I’ve known her.”

“I have a date too,” Katie said. Pansy’s eyebrows shot up and a smile played on her face. “But I think the five of you could, um, handle the seven of them,” she finished, giggling.

“Let’s do it,” Gwenog put in, “Come on, Gin.”

“Oh no, I am very happily married and I’m not screwing anyone but Harry,” she said firmly.

“Tell you what,” Katie said to the now-naked group of women, “We’ll apparate over with you, but they only get a quick look at us. You five stay. How’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Ginny said.

Katie leaned in to her. “It’ll be fun, Gin. No touching, they’ll just get a quick look at what Harry gets all the time. It’ll make Sean Troy crazy; he’s had a soft spot for you for ages.”

“How’d you know that?”

“Oh, he told me one night after a match,” Katie said, blushing.

“Is that… YOU!” and Ginny backhanded her in the shoulder.

“Hey, the match was over, we won. It was ok,” she smiled, and paused before adding, “No, it wasn’t.” She looked at the other naked women with a sultry grin. “It was _great_.”

“All right, I’m in,” Michelle Ombagi said.

There was a chorus of assent and at last Ginny said, “Okay, but just a quick tease and then I’m back here.”

Pansy had been leaning on a locker, just taking in the scene. A little nudge, that was all they’d needed. She knew they’d do the rest themselves. Quidditch always made her horny, and she was sure it did the same thing to most women. “Well, enjoy your evening, girls. I’ll be at the after-party, working a client.” She laughed. “See you in a couple of hours?”

“You are giving the men a great deal of credit there, Ms. Parkinson,” Yelena said.

“Not according to Hermione,” Pansy laughed. “See you later,” and she left the room, her shoulders shaking.

“Okay, if we’re going, let’s go,” Ginny said.

The women all grabbed their wands. “Directly to the showers?” Gwenog asked. The others nodded. “All right then, one, two, three.” With a series of loud snaps, they disapparated.

 

Sven Langstrom was squirming on the bench in front of his locker. The damn hard-on was still there. He was slowly taking his uniform off and trying to think of anything but the shapely arse of Katie Bell. He’d been flying behind her a lot of the evening and his mind was crammed with visions of his cock pounding her pink pussy. _Stop thinking that,_ he thought to himself, and his cock stiffened again. The other men were taking their time, too. There hadn’t been a lot of conversation after the game; Yoshida had mercifully caught the snitch and put an end to their misery. Not that they had played badly, but flying for almost an hour and a half with a raging hard-on wasn’t fun.

Enrique Sandoval sat next to him and chuckled. “I think we may have underestimated the women this time, what do you think, Sven?”

“I don’t know, my concentration was… off,” Sven replied.

Jacques Elley laughed loudly. “I notice none of us is in zee showers yet, I suspect for zee same reason, yes?” and he dropped his towel revealing a standing erection. “Zey did somzing. I don’t know what, but somzing.” He laughed again. “We Frenchmen ‘ave learned, never underestimate zee wiles of zee woman.” He laughed again and turned toward the showers.

There were a series of loud snaps and suddenly, seven naked women were standing in the shower area. “Good evening, gentlemen,” Gwenog said, “We thought you boys might need a bit of… attention… after what you just went through.” She chuckled as she looked at Jacques. “Judging by Mr. Elley here, we’re right on time.” She walked up to Jacques and gently grasped his pulsing, rock-hard cock. “What about it, Jacques, need a little help?” and she started a slow stroke.

His eyes closed for a moment. “Oh, oui, oui,” he said in a low growl.

“How about you, Viktor?” Koni asked as she walked up to him and finished unbuttoning his shirt. “Would you like a little help, too?” Her ivory white hand traced through the abundant hair on his chest.

“Va… vat are you doing here… oh, da,” he rumbled. Her hand had slid into his trousers and gripped his cock. With her other hand she undid his zip and his trousers dropped to the floor. The remaining women giggled and Ginny spoke up.

“All you get from me is a quick look,” she twirled in place for them, “Sorry, kinda got a date. Have fun… um, well, everyone.” With a snap, she was gone.

“I have a date, too. Sorry, Sean,” Katie said, “I got the idea you’d like me, but I’m sure that the rest of these fine ladies will be happy to take good care of you. You boys can share, can’t you?”

The question really didn’t need asking. In the few moments that had gone by, Gwenog had lain Jacques down on the bench and was bent over him giving him the blowjob of his life. Enrique Sandoval dropped his remaining clothes to the floor, walked up behind her and took her in one stroke. She moaned loudly around Jacques’ cock and ground her hips into Enrique. Koni had dropped to her knees and was taking a stunned Viktor Krum’s hard member in her mouth. Just as Katie disapparated back to the women’s showers, she caught a glimpse of the two women beaters and the two men beaters in a four way embrace, and Yelena taking Oliver Wood and Sean Troy by the hand toward the showers. She arrived back at the showers to find Ginny standing under the spray shaking with laughter.

“They good?” she asked.

Katie smiled wickedly. “I don’t know, suppose the girls will tell us tomorrow.”

Ginny laughed some more. “Walked into that one, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Katie grabbed the soap from the tray, “Turn around; we need to get all the perfume off before we get out of here.” She began to scrub Ginny’s back. “Harry’s in for it tonight, huh?”

“In a big way. What was it Pansy said? It was back in school… Oh yeah, ‘Quidditch always makes me horny.’” Katie could see the smile from behind.

“Me too,” she said.

Ginny turned to her and took the soap. “Your turn,” and she made the universal turn around sign, “So who’s on your dance card tonight?” she asked.

“Seamus Finnigan.”

Ginny slapped her arse, and Katie jumped. “Finnigan? Well good on you. Parkinson letting him off his leash for the evening?”

Katie turned back to her. “They’re just really good friends, neither one of them are serious about it. Seamus and I had an interesting conversation before the match.”

“Did you?”

Katie smiled at the memory. “Oh yes, very interesting,” and her eyes lit up. “In fact, I won the bet.” She laughed to herself and rinsed her hair.

Ginny looked up at the taller woman. “I don’t think I want to know.”

“Good.”

 

Seamus was sitting at one of the tables, a whiskey neat set before him next to a small, wrapped package. He smiled to himself. She had won, and her prize was in the box. Pansy had appeared shortly after the match with Greymartin in tow, and Seamus had gone to congratulate her. His Auror training showed him the slightly possessive way Greymartin hugged her to him as they talked, and it was all Seamus could do not to burst out laughing. Possess Pansy? Unlikely! She was superior at what she did, and Greymartin was completely unaware of the web already ensnaring him. After tonight, she’d get anything she wanted from him. He took a sip from his glass and two women Quidditch players appeared at the door to the locker area. The shorter, redheaded woman was in a knee-length, light green dress that highlighted her coloring, and the taller woman was in a mid-thigh, snug black dress. Harry was at the redheaded woman’s side in moments as the taller brunette scanned the room. Seamus raised his hand and waved.

“Oh, there’s Seamus,” Katie said to Ginny and Harry. “I’m going over; would you like to join us?”

Harry looked at Ginny. “I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to my old roommate lately, do you mind? At the match all we really did was cheer you on and talk Quidditch.”

Ginny gave Katie a sly smile. “Just for a bit,” and she leaned up and whispered in his ear for a few moments.

Harry’s face visibly reddened. “Uh, yeah, just for a bit then.”

Seamus watched as Katie, Ginny, and Harry made their way to his table. He pocketed the box and rose as they joined him. “Hey, Harry, haven’t seen you in ages and then twice in a week,” he said as he shook Harry’s hand.

“You’re never in the office, and Kingsley doesn’t let me leave,” Harry said, “It’s amazing how we can work in the same division of the ministry and see each other so rarely. How’s it going, Shay?”

“Ah, very good now that Miss Bell is here,” he said, taking her hand.

“Charmer,” she said sarcastically as he pulled out a chair, and she took the seat next to him.

“You played extremely well tonight, Katie. I’ve been to a lot o’ matches and I’ve never seen the Ellison cut done so well, so often, and so successfully, and that other move… the one Gwenog did at the beginning of the game… what did they call that, then?”

“Taylor spiral,” Ginny and Harry said in chorus as Harry pulled Ginny’s chair out for her to sit.

Seamus laughed. “Yeah, that. T’was amazing. How does she do that and not be thrown?”

Katie patted his hand as he sat next to her. “It’s all in the thighs, Seamus, all in the thighs,” she said.

Seamus’ mind wandered to the ramifications of that statement. “Well, okay then,” he said at last.

An elf waiter came by and took their drink orders; a second whiskey for Seamus, one for Harry, and two pints each for the women. The little elf disapparated with a snap and was back moments later with their drinks.

“Two pints?” Seamus asked, impressed, and handed Katie her glasses.

“Ah, Seamus,” Katie said, “you should know. Nothing’s better than a couple of pints after a hard workout… recharges the blood.”

Harry laughed. “Well, I bet Viktor needs a bit of recharging. I’ve never seen him so spotty; I thought he was going to fly up Yoshida’s arse a few times.”

Katie snorted in her beer. _I bet he’s doing something entirely different to her arse right now,_ she thought, and laughed.

Harry looked at Seamus and smiled. “Anyway, Ron was ecstatic. Not even Hermione’s bitching about his smugness could wipe that smile off his face.”

“Where are they?” Ginny asked, and finished her first pint.

“Pansy cornered Hermione and got them over at the VIP table.” He turned to Ginny. “We should go rescue them, yeah? I need to put in an appearance, anyway.” 

“Okay,” Ginny said as she rose from her chair. “A few quick handshakes and we’re homeward bound then?”

Harry looked at her with lust in his eyes. “Very quick handshakes,” he said, and turned to Seamus and Katie. “Come by my office, Shay, let’s catch up. I’ve got loads of news. You know Nev asked Hannah Abbot to marry him, right?”

Seamus shook his head. “I _do_ live under a rock. No, I didn’t know,” he said.

“You’re the last bachelor, my friend,” Harry laughed. “Come by the office, Shay,” and he hugged his friend as Seamus rose from his chair to shake hands with Ginny. 

“And you know where we live,” Ginny said in a voice very like her mother’s. “The wards will let you through if you have your D.A. galleon with you, and Mum’s always got a spare bed if you need it. Come by any time, Shay.” She hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Have a nice night, Katie,” and she winked to her friend.

“I’m sure Mister Finnigan here will keep me entertained,” she said.

Seamus took her hand. “That I will, me lass,” and he pulled her to her feet, “dance?” 

“Certainly,” she said to him and turned to Harry and Ginny. “See you later,” and Seamus led her to the dance floor.

Seamus could dance. Katie had seen him dance once long ago and knew he was adept, but she didn’t know that he had become a real dancer. They flowed around the floor; he led her perfectly. “I’m really glad you’re so good at this, you even make me look good,” she said.

“Ah, you’re fine. I do fairly well because o’ the Auror training.” She looked at him, bemused. “S’not all fighting and spell technique you know, they need us to be able to blend into any situation. I had a bit o’ a leg up on this because o’ me mam. She made sure I wouldn’t embarrass me Finnigan name at the Yule Ball.”

He had brought up, albeit surreptitiously, The Girl. “Have you seen Lavender recently?” she asked.

He smiled down at her. “Once a week when I’m in England,” he said, “Listen, Katie, I get asked about Lav by every lass who knows me an’ her. Yes, I do care a great deal for Lav, always will. But she’s got a lot to deal with, and I’m not sure when or if she’ll ever be able to be the kind o’ woman that could have a man. Even though it wasn’t a full moon, Greyback was transformed, the curse was passed and she’s a werewolf. Not a lot of people outside the D.A. know that, I hope you’ll keep it that way.”

“You can trust me, Shay.”

“Thanks,” and he drew his hand down her hair. “S’a good thing Lav’s a Gryffindor like us, really needs that bravery thing, she does. You see, she can’t have children, and that’s a big deal for her. Then there’s the potion; it dulls her, takes that spark that’s Lavender Brown away, so she don’t take it. There’s a room in her parents’ house they lock her up in for three days a month.” He looked thoughtful. “Maybe one day, a long time from now, I’ll be riding a desk an’ she’ll be less…” He trailed off.

“Depressed?”

He laughed. “I suppose you could put it that way; no, not depressed, just… sad,” and he was quiet for a moment. “But right now I’ve a fetching witch in me arms, and no ring on me finger, so what do you say we forget our past and have a good time?”

That was just what she needed to hear. Katie stopped their dance, rose on her toes and kissed him lightly. “Absolutely, Seamus, she’s very lucky to have a friend like you.”

Three dances later they had drifted near Pansy and Greymartin, who was wrapped in a silken cocoon. The dance was slow and Pansy’s head was laid against his shoulder. “You’re a terrific partner, Thomas,” Seamus heard her say as they passed. “We fit so well together, I wonder what else we would be good at,” and she hugged him closer. Seamus silently chuckled and Katie looked up at him and then over to the other couple.

She smiled broadly. “He’s screwed,” she said in a whisper. 

Seamus led them a short bit away. “That’s the plan,” he said, and they both silently laughed.

She laid her head on his shoulder. _Me too,_ she thought. “I could use something to drink. They had punch, right?”

“Yeah, over at the refreshment table. Come on,” he said, and they made their way from the dance floor to a long table laden with punchbowls, platters of fruit and cheeses, breads, and various meats on sticks that were being broiled by a small crew of elves. Seamus made them two cups of punch while Katie piled a small plate with an assortment of the foods. “Lead on,” he told her, and followed her to a small, unoccupied table.

“When are the other players coming?” Seamus asked as he nibbled a piece of broiled beef.

Katie snorted. _I’m sure they already have a few times,_ she thought, and laughed. “Um, soon I think. They decided to… Um, well, give the men a hand getting ready.”

Seamus looked across the table at her with a surprised but amused expression, and then he laughed. “Well, good for them. I’m sure the boys appreciate it.”

“Me too,” she said and smiling.

“Had to work off the effects o’ that perfume Pansy cooked up, eh?” he said, and waggled his eyebrows at her.

Katie was momentarily stunned. “She told you?”

Seamus shook his head. “No, not a word, though it was a complete secret she did.” At her bemused look he smiled and tapped his chest. “Auror, we’re trained to spot that kind o’ thing, you know.” He laughed. “Figured it out, I did, when Yoshida flew really close about halfway through the match. Caught a scent and a hard-on at the same time.” He leaned in to her. “Noticed it had the same effect on all the men. S’not a potion though, or anything else magical, or t’would have triggered the foul wards.” He smiled in admiration of his friend. “Woman’s a master, how’d she do it?”

Katie laughed, and then quickly retold the tale Pansy had told them in the locker room.

Seamus smiled and shook his head. “Brilliant. Not a foul and gave you lasses an incredible advantage, just brilliant.” He smiled across the table at Katie. “Got any left?”

She looked back with a wicked smile. “Well as it happens, I was the last one with the bottle, and it’s right here in my bag.”

Seamus stood, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Care to go settle our bet then?”

She slid her arms around him and hugged him tight. “Lead on.”

Pansy saw Seamus stand and pull Katie into a hug. His wand was in his hand a moment later, and with a snap, they disapparated. _Have fun Seamus,_ she thought. _ Time for step three. _She drew a small phial from her bag and put a drop of the perfume behind each ear. Padma was across the room, but Pansy deftly caught her eye and gave her the signal the she was leaving, and that the rest of the night, Padma was to be the host. Pansy took Greymartin’s arm and led him aside. 

“Thomas, I’d like you to escort me back to Parkinson Place for a nightcap, would you like that?” She snuggled into his chest and the scent from the perfume flowed from her.

He let out an animal growl. “I’d like that very much, Pansy, very much indeed.”

Her wand was in her hand and they were gone in an instant.

*

Katie didn’t know where they were going, and she really didn’t care. They folded back into reality in a small sitting room.

“Welcome to me flat, such as it is. It’s actually more Luna and Dean’s than mine, they’re here a lot more.”

Katie snuggled into him. “Are they here tonight?”

“No. It’d be full moon and Luna spends it with her da. Dean goes down to Surrey with her these nights as the full moon celebration she does requires… companionship.”

Katie smiled. “I see. May I borrow the loo for a minute?”

“Certainly.”

She disappeared down the hall and Seamus idly fingered the box in his pocket. He laughed to himself and straightened the pillows on the couch. _We’ll be needing those in a bit,_ he thought.

Katie was back in minutes. “Lovely,” she said, “You can tell a girl lives here, not a particularly neat girl, but a girl.”

“Ah, Luna’s not one for neatness. Clean, yes, neat, well that’s a matter of perspective.” He laughed. “Ever been to the Quibbler’s home?”

Katie shook her head.

“Ah well, you’d see where she gets it from. Interesting man, Xeno, never really got over Luna’s mum dyin’.”  Seamus shrugged his shoulders and produced the small box from his pocket. “I believe I owe you this,” and he placed the box in her hand. 

She ran her hand down his hip over his trousers, cocked an eyebrow and looked back up at him and grinned. “It’s a good thing I don’t have to give you mine.”

He looked down at her, puzzled. “Why’d that be?”

Katie rose on her toes and whispered in his ear, “I’m not wearing any.”

Seamus was rock-hard in an instant, and drew her into a heated kiss. His hand snaked down her side and slid along her hip. _Not lying,_ he thought. Her arse was so smooth and tight, he just had to grab a handful and squeeze. She smiled into the kiss and squeezed his back. Katie parted from his lips, kissed her way down his neck, and began unbuttoning his shirt. Seamus’ head was swimming, and he found her zip on the back of her dress. He slowly started the zipper down. She finished unbuttoning his shirt and threw it to the floor; a second later her hand was on his chest, running her fingers through the sandy red hair. He brought the zipper all the way to its end, and with a small shimmy from her it fell to the floor. Seamus actually gasped. She was naked but for her shoes.

“Jesus and Mary,” he said breathlessly. “My god, you’re beautiful, Katie.”

She smiled, and blushed a small bit. “Well I’m not the prettiest girl in the world, but Quidditch keeps me well fit, don’t you think?” and she twirled in front of him. Her hair swirled out from her, and her breasts, firm with puffy dark nipples the size of half plums, taunted him. Katie had the most amazing form he had ever seen, and that was saying quite a lot.

Seamus pulled her to him, kissing her hard and grabbing an arse cheek in each hand.

She pulled back and smiled. “No fair, you’re still dressed.” His fly was down a second later, and a second after that she had taken the head of his cock in her mouth. Katie worked him in and out slowly, almost withdrawing completely, then taking him again as far as she could. He wasn’t the biggest man she’d ever had, but that was good, she thought. He had the perfect length, not so big around that it hurt her jaw, and a slight curve that she knew from experience would feel wonderful in a few minutes. Her fingers ran through the hair on his balls and he moaned. With a smack and a kiss to the head she pulled from him, stood and toed off her shoes. While she got her shoes off Seamus sat on the couch and pulled his own shoes, socks, and trousers off in one swift movement.

“Damn, Finnigan,” she said admiring his body as he stood. Covering the distance between them in two strides she ran her hands down his chest, over the scars that crisscrossed and dotted him from mid chest to below his navel. “The battle?” she asked.

“No… well, some. Got most of them later, though,” he said with a toss of the head.

He touched a small burn scar on her left hip. “The battle?”

“Yeah, Crabbe’s dad.”

“Neville ran him through with the sword and took his wand, you know that right?”

She smiled broadly. “Oh yes, and I thanked him well. Something like this,” and she was kissing him again. Her tongue was deftly exploring his lips and mouth while her hands found him.  He was so hard. She’d never held a man that hard, and she knelt and took him again.

“Oh, fuck,” he said, “That’s so brilliant.” Her tongue was swirling around the head of his cock while she lightly caressed his balls with her fingertips. She dropped her left hand to her own wet center and slowly, delicately rubbed her swollen clit, moaning around his cock.

Seamus couldn’t believe someone could give better head than Pansy, but here she was. He could already feel the rising tide of tension in his loins and tightening in his balls as they prepared for release. “Your turn.” He pulled her to her feet and led her to the couch, slapped her arse and said, “Have a seat.”

Katie reclined on the couch and Seamus dropped to his knees in front of her. “Beautiful,” he said again as he took in the sight of her glistening pussy. The dark curls were trimmed close and her outer lips were pink and swollen, inviting him to taste her.

“Oh fuck, Seamus!” she nearly shouted as he gently sucked her into his mouth. His tongue was sliding up and down between her entrance and clit; occasionally he paused at the little hard nub and lightly flicked it, eliciting a hip buck into him and a gasp. He built her near to orgasm, backed down a little, then built her again. This time he took her over the edge; the closer she got, the faster he circled her clit with his tongue. Her whole body tightened around him and her thighs gripped his head like a vise.

“Oh god, oh god, yes, yes, yesss, ahh, ahh!” Her head tossed back and forth as she came and Seamus pressed his tongue down hard on her clit. He had to hang on to her thighs as she bucked and thrashed on his face. Her pussy was still pulsing around his mouth as she stilled. She jerked a few times as aftershocks rippled through her. “They teach that at Auror camp?” she asked breathlessly, releasing him from the grip of her legs.

“Oh, no. Proud graduate of the William Weasley School o’ Cunnilingus, I am,” Seamus said, a thumb to his chest. “Ron passed all that on one evening in sixth year. There’s a reason the Weasley wives are… a happy lot.”

“I am going to kick Angelina’s arse. She never told me anything about that,” she said as she pushed him to the floor. Seamus stretched out on the sitting room rug and Katie crawled up him, straddled his hips, and placed the ruby red head of his cock between her moist and radiant pussy lips. “You’re so hard. I’ve not had a man this hard before,” she smiled wickedly, and sat.

Seamus let out an animal growl as she sheathed him in one movement. “And you’re so hot and wet, umm… tight, too.” His head lolled back to the floor and he closed his eyes, reveling in the sensation of being buried inside her. Katie rocked forward and back a few times and then settled with a wiggle of her arse. “Oh gods, that’s good,” he said.

“Umm, yes it is.” She ground against him and slid back and forth slowly. “I’m so happy you have that little curve, really hits the right spot.” She shivered and giggled as a small orgasm rippled through her, and then she began to ride him in earnest.  With each down stroke Seamus counterthrusted and buried himself as deeply as he could. After a few minutes she had a breathless orgasm and rocked back resting her arse on his thighs. “You’ll like this,” and she moved her feet from next to his knees to rest just under his armpits. ”Spread your legs a bit; yes, like that.” Her hands resting on his knees, she spread her legs wide and began to ride him again.

Seamus was awestruck; he could look down at their joining and watch himself emerge and disappear into her.

“Like the view?” she asked with a knowing smile.

“Fuck and I do,” he said in a thick brogue. 

She laughed, “Well you’ll like this even better,” and she clenched around him.

Seamus let out an involuntary gasp and almost came on the spot. She looked down at him with an expression of confidence and heated sexual bliss. With every downstroke she would let up and then tighten as she rose. He grasped an arse cheek in each hand and could feel the powerful Quidditch muscles working under her skin, it was almost too much. He started counterthrusting hard.  Katie’s breath was coming in short gasps again, and he recognized the onset of a huge orgasm. He slid his hands up her body to brush and tweak her nipples with every downstroke. In moments she shuddered and cried out, “I… Oh god, Seamus, I’m… AAAAAH!!!” A small fountain of her juices sprayed his chest. She sat on him, breathing hard for a few moments with her eyes closed in ecstasy. Finally she opened them and looked at him with a smile of wonder. “That’s never happened before; my god, man.”

With a practiced grace he pulled her legs from under his arms and laid her down to rest her head on his chest. He stroked her hair for a moment, and then rolled over so he was on top of her, still enclosed in her tight, wet embrace. “Mmm, my turn,” and he started moving inside her. He placed her legs over his shoulders and wrapped his arms around her thighs. The sensation as she squeezed again and again every time he buried himself in her quickly took him to the point of no return. 

Katie could tell he was there, and she was too. “Come, come with me, Seamus. Oh yes, just like that, yes…”

Her pussy throbbing around his cock was all it took. Young master Finnigan came apart. “Oh fuck, Katie. Oh, fuck yes,” he said as wave after wave shot through and from him. When he could think again properly, he lay down on top of her and rolled them over so she could lie on his chest. “That was fantastic,” he was finally able to say.

Katie’s pussy was still singing happily to her, and every now and again a little earthquake rippled against his cock. She hadn’t ever come like that with a man. The only time she could remember it being close was with her wand after a particularly energetic match, but that was nothing compared to what had just happened. She kissed a line along his shoulder blade. “I… um, wow, Seamus.”

A robust laughter shook against her body. “And Charlie Weasley taught us that if she’s inarticulate after, we’ve done our job,” and he laughed some more.

“Oh you’ve done your job well and true… for now.” She squeezed around him eliciting a shiver. “We’ll just see how you do with round two in an hour or so.”

Her hair was so soft; it felt like satin as he ran his fingers through it. He kissed the top of her head. “Aye, we will. In the mean time,” and he had his wand. _“Accio!”_ A wet flannel flew from the bathroom to Seamus’ hand. Starting with her neck and chest, he gently wiped the sweat, spit, and come from her. Then he cleaned himself.

“I’ll just get us a bottle o’ wine,” he said as he rose and headed to the kitchen. “Red or white?”

She watched his arse as he walked away, entranced.

“Katie?”

She looked up from his arse to his eyes. “Um, sorry, what?”

He laughed. “Red or white… wine?” and he made the drinking motion.

“Oh, uh… red, yeah red.” Her brain was fogged. _Shagged my brains out, Finnigan, holy shit!_

He left the room chuckling. “Hey, got a nice Bordeaux from the last time I was in France, how’s that?” he said from the kitchen.

Katie smiled. “Lovely,” she called back. _Lavender, why the hell haven’t you snatched this man up? He’s great. Funny, considerate - _she placed her hand over her still shuddering center and squeezed her legs together - _and Holy Shit!_ What Katie’s mother called her “determined look” came over her. _Okay then, game’s on; they made me chaser for a reason._  Her mind wandered to a Muggle movie she had seen recently. _Pansy, Lavender, there’s a new sheriff in town._ She chuckled to herself.

Seamus rounded the corner from the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. Katie was lying on her stomach on the sitting room rug, her chin resting on her hands, one leg up twirling her foot. She was facing away from him and her round, firm arse glowed in the dim light of the room. He could just detect a hint of pink where her inner thighs met her arse. His little friend stirred again. That spectacular hair was splayed across her back, and Seamus found he longed to run his fingers through it properly. He cleared his throat before he asked, “Join me on the couch?”

She rolled over in a way Seamus thought was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life. His little friend made himself apparent. _Okay, okay, give the rest of me a few minutes, all right,_ he thought _._ Katie pushed herself upright, tucked her legs under her and stood. Her hair flowed around her as she walked to him and took the glasses from his hand.

“Seamus?” she asked, “You in there?” He didn’t realize he’d been staring.

 “Yeah, um, yeah,” he said, and colored a bit. “It’s just you’re such a fine thing, I‘m having a bit o’ trouble thinking just now.” 

“Two for two,” she said, and leaned in and kissed him. “Couch?”

They sat and he poured them each a generous glass. 

Katie sipped from hers and looked at Seamus with a respectful gaze. “This is exceptional, Seamus. Where’d you learn to pick wines?”

“Like I said, they teach us a good deal more than scrapping in the camps. Languages, etiquette, accents,” and he drifted into a perfect south Texas accent. “Dancin’, little lady, and ridin’ horses.” Her laughter was musical, and he returned to his normal brogue, “Weapons, ours and Muggle; driving, which is harder than it looks; lots of things.” 

She ran her hand down the side of his face. “Has it helped?”

He looked her in the eyes. It took just a second to understand what she was asking. “Aye, a lot really. I was going down a bad road, Katie, a very bad road. Kingsley and Bill Weasley saved me. Owe them my life, I do.”

She snuggled into him from beneath his arm and sipped her wine. After a thoughtful moment, she turned to him. “I’m glad. The world needs men like you, Seamus.”

Just then, a snap sounded in the room. Seamus’ wand was in his hand in one lightning-fast movement. A second after that it was pointed at the blood-soaked elf standing quivering in the middle of the room. “M, Master Finnigan.”

“Eli? What the hell?” Seamus said as he leapt from the couch and knelt next to the elf. “Are you all right? Is this yours?” he asked, holding a piece of the elf’s tattered crimson clothing.

The old elf was shaking and crying; he could barely talk. “N, no, Master Finnigan, ‘tis Master Greymartin’s.” He wept harder. “They took Mistress Pansy, Master Finnigan, they took Mistress Pansy!”

Seamus whirled to Katie. “Get dressed.”

 


	4. The Hunt

 All’s Fair

4

 The Hunt

Pansy came to in a dark room. _You stupid fucks, you should have killed me when you had the chance,_ she thought. Pansy knew Eli, she knew he had heard the signal and would go straight to Seamus. She smiled in the dark. _You._ _ Stupid. Fucks. _

*

A pair of jeans, a shirt and a pair of socks flew into the sitting room, and Seamus handed them to Katie. “Don’t think Luna will mind you nickin’ a few of her clothes for a bit,” Seamus said as he caught the same collection of clothes that had flown from his room. “Pro’ly need to charm them to fit, you’re a bit taller than she is.”

“Been doing this charm my whole life, Seamus,” Katie said. “Two younger sisters and one older means I’ve been sizing clothes since I was able.” With a casual flick of her wand, the jeans lengthened and the shirt’s arms grew three inches. “Should do,” and she was dressing at top speed.

“Be needing these for a bit longer, d’you mind?” Seamus said as he held up the little box containing her prize.

“I’ll collect when Pansy’s back safe at home,” she said as she conjured a bra out of nothingness and put it on.

Seamus was pulling on his jeans. “Oh, sorry; Luna doesn’t wear those.”

Katie giggled. “Yeah, I know. She does the lifting charm. Most girls with tits that big do.” 

Seamus had his shirt on at the same time as she did. “Ready then?” he asked her.

“Yeah.”

“Right,” and he took on a look she hadn’t seen in six years. “I’d like you to come along with me as I don’t have time to call for back up, but I’ll be the boss. I say go, you go. I say stay, you stay. ‘Tis what I do and I’m good at it.  Are you okay with that?”

She nodded.

“All right then. Eli?” The quivering elf stepped forward. “Greymartin still alive?”

The elf started to speak, stammered and started again. “I… I don’t know, Master Seamus. He was hit by an awful spell, and I was knocked to the floor by his body.”

“They didn’t see you, then?” Seamus asked.

“I don’t think so, Master Seamus,” the elf said as he trembled. “There was a great deal of commotion, and Mistress Pansy gave me the signal to come to you, so I disapparated from under Master Greymartin and came here.”

“Good job, Eli,” Seamus said. “Now I want you to do something a bit daring, you on for it?”

The elf straightened himself. “For Mistress Pansy and you, Master Finnigan, anything.”

“You’re a good elf, Eli; no wonder Pansy freed you. Okay, apparate over to the basement and see if anyone is there, then come straight back. Got it?”

“Already done, Master Finnigan,” the elf said with a low bow, and with a pop he was gone.

“Shouldn’t be more ‘n a few seconds,” he told Katie.

A second pop accompanied Eli’s reappearance. “There was no one in the basement, Master Finnigan.”

“Great,” Seamus said and took the elf’s hand. He nodded at Katie indicating she should do the same. She took the elf’s hand and Seamus continued. “Alright, take us to the basement.”

The world squeezed out of existence and they were gone.

*

Thomas Greymartin had never been in pain like he was now. The men in the black cloaks had hit him with some vicious spell, one of which he had no knowledge. A great hole was in his left side and he was fairly certain at least one rib was gone. He had lost a lot of blood before he had been able to cast the healing charm and staunch the flow, but that had cost him all the energy he’d had. Now he lay in the middle of the bedroom in only his trousers, a pool of blood surrounding him. He heard a pop that sounded like the elf apparating, but he could be hearing things, he wasn’t sure. The room was spinning from the loss of blood and he was nearly blind from the pain. _Someone needs to get here soon_ , he thought. He’d fallen backwards on the elf after they’d hit him with the spell, and he had felt him disapparate from under him. He prayed the elf had gone for help. There was a movement at the door, and suddenly the sandy-haired Auror from the party was by his side.

*

Seamus, Katie, and Eli had snapped back into reality in the basement and Seamus had done a quick _homenum_ _ revelio_ on the house above them. It had shown that there was just one live person in the house, and he was immobile in Pansy’s bedroom. The three of them had raced up the stairs to find Greymartin barely conscious on the bedroom floor.

Seamus knelt next to him. “Got off a healer, good boy,” he said. “You able to talk?”

“Some,” He weakly replied.

“Right then, we’ll get you to Saint Mungo’s straight away, but first I need to know what you know about these guys. I’m going to do _Legilimens,_ ‘tis best if you co-operate and don’t fight it.” He pointed his wand between  Greymartin’s eyes. “Think about them, _Legilimens!”_

Seamus saw though Greymartin’s eyes in his memory. Pansy walked back across the bedroom from the bar with a whiskey for each of them in her hands. His eyes traveled up and down her naked form. In their shared consciousness Seamus sent him a wave of understanding. _Yeah, I know. A bit of all right, that one._ Her hand held out the glass to him and the house intrusion ward howler went off. Greymartin jumped to his feet, stuffed his legs into his trousers, and zipped. The little elf apparated into the room and they whirled to face the door. It was blasted from its hinges, and a spell followed that took him off his feet to land on the elf behind him. Four men in black cloaks and silver masks strode through the door. “The pure, Eli, find the pure!” Pansy had shouted before they stunned her. He felt the elf vanish from under him. He was barely conscious, but he had enough strength to loll his head to the side and watch as the gathered her. One man’s arm slid from under his cloak and just before they disapparated, he saw that fucking tattoo.

Seamus snapped back into his own mind and jumped to his feet. “Fucking Death Eaters,” he said, and turned to Katie. “Take him to Saint Mungo’s, I’ll be along shortly. Anyone asks tell them you’ve got authority from the Auror department.” He gave her a quick kiss. “Go on, I’ll be there in a bit.”

She knelt and took Greymartin’s hand. “Let’s get you healed. Ready?” Greymartin nodded. She looked up at Seamus. “Don’t be long, Seamus,” and she disapparated with Greymartin.

“I won’t be, love,” he said in the darkened room.

 

Aurors know many things. They know how to read people, they know the spells to reveal the truth when people are lying, they know the ways of the most ancient magic, and they know when they are to be used. Seamus went to Pansy’s vanity and found her brush. With reverential care he lifted a strand of her jet black hair from it. “ _Per is saeta ego mos reperio verum,”_ he said, and then conjured a small bowl and set it on the vanity. “ _Vestri_ _ somes, vestri animus,_ _vestri_ _ spiritus,_ _vestri_ _cruor,_ he intoned as he lowered the hair into the bowl. _“ Ostendo ego vestri locus,” _he said in a powerful voice. “ _partum_ _a Carnotense! Ostendo ego vestri locus!”_ He brought his wand down in a slashing motion, the bowl exploded into flames and then transformed into a map of London. A small red dot pulsed in Islington, and Seamus smirked. 

*

There was a noise from beyond the door. Pansy rose to her feet, padded to the door and pressed her ear against it.

“She is a traitor to _HIM_ , we have to kill her,” said a rough voice.

“No, she should be punished before that,” a softer, silkier voice said, “I want her to dance on my cock first.”

“Your brain is in your cock, Waldman. _HE_ demands vengeance against those that betrayed the cause,” the rough voice said.

“Yes, yes, McNab,” Waldman said, “But _HE_ was always one to draw out the pleasure, don’t you remember? We fucked Burbage for two months before he finally killed her.”

“You may have,” McNabb said, “I didn’t want that dried-up blood traitor on my wizard’s pride; I never touched her.”

“You missed something special, my friend.” Pansy could almost see the wistful expression on Waldman’s face. “An older woman has cushioning and experience. When I imperiused her, she came alive, fucked like a rhino in heat, she did.” There was a chuckle. “Come on, let’s go back downstairs and have a brandy before the meeting. She doesn’t need to die this instant. We have time, lots of time.” Pansy heard the sound of retreating footsteps.

 _No wonder you guys lost,_ she thought. Riddle had relied primarily on men for his Death Eaters; he couldn’t relate well to women. Alecto Carrow was barely female, and Bellatrix Lestrange was mad. Pansy couldn’t think of another woman that had taken the mark. With just men in the crowd, it might be easier than she first thought.

*

Katie was standing in the lobby of Saint Mungo’s when Seamus apparated into it. “How is he?” he asked as he walked up to her.

“They just let me know,” she said. “The curse they used on him was some sort of blast, not _reducto_ _,_ but similar. He’s lucky he had his arm up or it would have taken it right off.” She shook her head.  “Haven’t seen that much blood since the battle. Anyway, he’s lost three ribs, a kidney and part of a lung. There was some intestinal damage, too. He’s very lucky to be alive.”

Seamus nodded. “Good thing he got that healer off. So what’d they say about his recovery?”

Katie smiled. “Oh they are very confident he’ll make a full recovery. Skele-grow will put the ribs right, and they’ve got one of their best internists repairing his intestines. The kidney is a bit harder, but it and the lung damage are being handled by a team. He’ll have some scaring, but he should be almost as good as new in a week.”

“Great. He’s unconscious, I expect?”

Katie nodded again. “For at least the next few days, good thing you interrogated him first.”

Seamus shrugged his shoulders. “We always do. Sometimes the last thing a person does is talk to us, but we have to do it that way. Once they come here, the healers don’t let us.”

Her expression grew grim. “Some job you got there.”

He snorted. “It has its moments. You ready to do some acting?”

A smile quirked the corner of her mouth. “Acting?”

“Yeah, I know where Pansy is. Do you think you could pull off a Muggle act?”

She smiled confidently. “Oh, yeah.”

“Let’s go, then,” he said, and took her hand. The crushing darkness embraced her.

*

The only light in the room was from the crack under the door. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark and she could just see the outlines of a bed. Pansy carefully crossed to it and found one of the posts. She ran her hands up and down it, and then grasped it firmly. _Any tool will do,_ Snape’s voice said in her mind. _A talented witch or wizard can make even the crudest of things into a tool of magic._ Pansy laid her head against the bedpost. “ _Lumos_ _,”_ she said in the dark, and the knob on the end of the bedpost began to glow softly. The smile that Padma always called her “man-eater grin” formed on her face.  

 

*

Seamus and Katie popped back into existence in an alley just down from the Islington Tube Station. He drew the map from his pocket and turned to her. “Right, they’re just down this street. See here?” and he pointed to the pulsing red dot. “The pulse means she’s still alive, and from the strength of it, I can tell she’s not hurt. Come on.” They hurried from the alley and down the street toward the spot indicated on the map. Rows of middleclass Muggle houses lined the streets, and Seamus stopped in front of one. “Here,” he said, “This is what I’d like you to do. Can you play the little lost Muggle girl?”

Katie smiled at him. “Oh, excuse me. But I seem to have lost my way,” she said in a pitiful voice. “Is this Brian’s house?”

Seamus took her hand. “Perfect. Now, I’ll disillusion myself and stand right behind you. You do your act, and I’ll see what I can when they open the door, then we’ll plan the next step. Got it?”

Katie nodded and drew her wand. She carefully slid it up her sleeve. “Just in case,” she said, and Seamus smiled grimly.

“You, Lav, and Colin were the only ones who beat me in target practice,” he said, “I remember during the battle you were a dead shot and merciless. If it comes to it, and I think it will, are you ready to do it again?”

She met his gaze and nodded.

“Well, let’s get on with it.” He cast the disillusionment charm on himself and followed her up the steps.

Katie drew a deep, calming breath. _Just like a match,_ she thought. _Here we go._ She reached out and rang the bell. A few moments passed and she rang again. There was a sound of thumping from the inside of the house and the door opened a crack. A middle-aged man with graying hair poked his head out. “What  d’ya want?” he asked gruffly.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I seem to be lost,” she said. “Is this 1081?”

“Yeah,” the older man said.

Katie smiled at him. “Oh good, is Brian home?”

“No Brian here. Now bugger off!” he made to slam the door and Katie put her hand against it and pushed it open a little. “Please, could I use your telephone? He’s obviously given me the wrong address, or I wrote it down wrong. Please?” she said pleadingly.

The old man threw the door open and placed his hands on his hips. “Ain’t no felatone here, now bugger off, little Muggle girl, ‘fore you find yourself in a world of trouble.” He spun and slammed the door.

“Great,” she heard Seamus’ voice say, “Perfect, you’re good. Now get behind me, and wand out.” There was a knock on the door again.

Another few thumps sounded behind the door and it flew open. “I told you…” There was a flash of light and a soft bang. The man fell dead at their feet, a small hole smoking in his chest. A second later the body vanished, and Seamus pocketed his wand.

“Pretty fucking ruthless, Finnigan,” Katie said in an impressed voice. 

“Death Eater,” he said coldly, “He bought his ticket long ago; I just punched it for him. In we go.”

“Wilson? What the hell’s going on down there?” a voice rang down from the stairs.

“Nothin’,” Seamus said in a remarkable imitation of the dead man’s voice. “Just some Muggle trash that were lost. I sent her on her way.”

“Well get up here, the meeting’s about to start,” the voice called.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m comin’,” Seamus said. “Meeting,” he whispered to Katie. “Been looking for the remainders of the Death Eaters for a while now, we have.” Katie felt the disillusion charm ripple over her. “We need to take them now before they know what’s afoot.” His voice became low and serious. “We don’t play in the Aurors, Katie. You killed a few in the battle, yes?”

“Yeah, I did,” she replied flatly.

“Well bein’ outnumbered, as I’m sure we are, we can’t afford mercy. So it’s go for the kill, every time. Can you do that?”

She gripped her wand tightly. “Yes,” she said, deadly serious.

“Fine then, you’re with me an’ I’m authorizing you for _ANY_ curse you choose. Don’t be hesitating.”

“I won’t, Seamus,” she said.

“Good. Fuck these arseholes.” She felt his hand on hers, and he led her up the stairs.

*

Pansy could see the decor of the room now. The old four post bed sat with headboard against one wall, a boarded up window opposite, a Muggle painting hung on a third and a shield with two swords crossing it hung on the last. Her man-eater grin grew very wide indeed. An old chest of drawers sat beneath the swords, and Pansy had to pull one drawer partially out so she could use it as a step to climb on top of the chest. _Please don’t be fake,_ she thought to herself as she grasped the hilt of the longer sword. It slid free of the hoops holding it to the shield with the tell tale ring of true steel. Smiling from ear to ear, Pansy pulled the remaining shorter sword from the shield. The naked woman lightly dropped to the floor and rose from a crouch to settle into her natural _en garde_, the rapier in her right hand and the short sword in her left. 

The Parkinsons had fenced since the middle ages, and Pansy had studied swordplay from the age of five. She was exceptional. With the smooth, practiced skill of one who has done it all her life, she ran through a series of parries, repostes, and thrusts. That she was able to fight Florentine, and had the weapon with which to do it, was a bonus that made her cackle. _Surprise, motherfuckers,_ she thought, and cackled again.

*

Seamus sand Katie crept up the stairs. At the second landing they heard voices from down the hall.

“She’s a blood traitor now, you dumb arse,” a rough voice said.

“Look, McNab, we covered this before,” the silky voice of Waldman said. “She’ll die, but first we play. It’s how _HE’D_ want it.”

Another voice sounded from the room as they approached. “She’s the daughter of one of our best financial supporters. It’d be silly, McNab, silly to kill her at all.”

“You were always a coward, Williams. How you got the mark, I don’t know.” McNab said.

There was a flurry where everyone was talking and then a strong voice silenced them. “GENTELMEN! Quiet, please. For her support of Muggles and their filthy progeny, she has to die; however we have needs, and I, for one, want to have my way with her. After that, we can dispose of what’s left. Now, Bialy, what news from the ministry?”

A young man’s voice spoke. “The Aurors are still wandering in the wilderness looking for us,” and he laughed. “That idiot Shacklebolt has put Dedalus Diggle and Sturgis Podmore in charge of the Aurors, and he’s even elevated The Boy to an assistant.”

There was a mass grumbling in the room and Seamus took the opportunity to peek around the corner of the door to the room and assess the situation. He quickly counted nine men around the table. “Nine,” he whispered to Katie. “I’ll take the left, you take the right. On three - one.”

“Where the hell is Wilson?” McNab asked.

“Two.”

A chair leg scraped in the room. “I’ll go get him,” Bialy said.

“Three.”

A green jet of light hit Bialy square in the chest and he fell dead to the floor; a second later, Katie’s _reducto_ took  McNab’s head off. The large man at the head of the table yelled _finite incantatem,_ and swept the room with his wand.

The dissolution charm rippled away and Seamus was visible just before he yelled “ _INCENDIO!”_ and roasted three men where they stood. Two men made for a door on the opposite side of the room from Seamus and Katie. Her _Avada Kedavra_ splashed against the man at the head of the table, and he fell face-first into his wine glass. The last man in the room pointed his wand at her, and then he exploded from Seamus’ _bombarda_ _._

“After them,” Seamus ordered, and vaulted over the bodies to get to the door through which the other two men had disappeared.

*

 _Doorbell?_ Pansy thought, _that’s interesting._ She had been pacing and practicing with the swords for the past ten minutes, warming up her muscles and getting a feel for the balance of the blades. Quietly, she walked to the door and bounced on her toes. A minute went by and there was a series of three quick knocks at the house door. Pansy smiled broadly. _Welcome to the party, Seamus._ She knew that knock from the many times it had rapped on her front door. A nearby voice called out, “Wilson? What the hell’s going on down there?” Then another answered, “ Nothin’, just some Muggle trash that were lost. I sent her on her way.” Pansy nearly doubled over while stifling the laugh. _He is so good. You boys are fucked now,_ she chuckled in the dark.

The murmur of men’s voices grew louder and occasionally Pansy caught a snatch of the conversation. _Too bad,_ she thought. _You guys thought I’d be your little fuck toy. Life just disappoints you boys right and left, doesn’t it?_ Suddenly all hell broke loose, and she heard the sounds of curses and men dying; a woman shouted, “ _Avada Kedavra.”_ Her eyebrows shot up. _Brought her along for the ride, eh, Seamus?_ Then there was the sound of footsteps running to her door, and she backed up a pace. Pansy dropped into her fighting stance and waited for the door to open. Keys jingled and a man opened the door hurriedly and stepped through. Pansy took his wand hand off at the wrist with the rapier and ran him through with the short sword. As he fell she ran the second man through with the rapier. The fight lasted all of three seconds.

Pansy stepped over the two dying men and into the hall. Seamus and Katie burst through a door and ran up to her. She lowered her guard and leaned on the rapier like a cane. “Took you long enough, Finnigan.” She smiled at Katie. “Had to stop off for a quickie?” 

Seamus and Katie laughed. “Ah, well then, I suppose we weren’t needed here after all, Katie. Seems Pansy had this situation completely under control,” he said.

Pansy smiled at them. “Seriously though, thanks. They had some plans for me that I didn’t like much.”

“We know,” Katie said, admiring Pansy. She was a vision, naked and spattered in blood, leaning on her sword. “We should get you some clothes before we take you anywhere, though.” She pointed her wand at the dead men on the floor and their clothes slid from their bodies to hang in the air in front of her. “Hmm, that shirt, those trousers, these shoes.” The rest of the clothing dropped to the floor and she conjured a pair of knickers. “Here you go, I’ll have these fixed for you in a minute.” As Pansy put on the knickers, Katie modified the shirt into a nice blouse, the pants into a suitable skirt, and the shoes into something that would actually fit.

“That’s impressive,” Pansy said genuinely to her as she dressed, and then she looked serious. “How’s Thomas?”

“He’s alive, and he’ll recover,” Katie told her.

Pansy gave a sigh of relief. “Good, he’s alright. I kind of want to see him again.”

“Well, ladies,” Seamus said. “I’ll be here for a good long while. Dedalus’ll want to see this for himself, and I’ll be writing reports till next week. Perhaps you two should go home and get some sleep.” His brow crinkled. “Wonder if they’ve a floo in this shit hole?”

The two women laughed. “Let’s see if the wards are down now. Eli!” Pansy shouted.

The elf appeared with a pop. “Mistress Pansy!” he said, and wept happily as she bent and hugged him.

“You are so good and brave, Eli,” Pansy said. “I’d… If you weren’t already free, I’d free you again,” and she hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, Master Finnigan,” the old elf said, “I knew you would save her.”

“We still have a bet to settle, Seamus,” Katie said with a wink.

“That we do, lass,” he said in full brogue, “Don’t worry, I’ll be in touch tomorrow. Till then, I should call the office and you two should go get some sleep.”

“Actually, I’d like to go to Saint Mungo’s and check on Thomas,” Pansy said, and took the elf’s hand. “Thanks, Seamus, Katie, you’ll be hearing from me soon. Oh, and I’ll be taking these.” She bent and retrieved the swords from the floor, then took the elf’s hand again. “Eli, Saint Mungo’s.”

The old elf smiled broadly. “Yes, Mistress,” he said, and with a snap they were gone.

“Well, you certainly know how to show a girl a good time, Seamus,” Katie said as she drew him into an embrace, “I don’t think I’ll ever have a date that’ll top this one.”

He kissed her passionately. “I’ll be sure to arrange something just as good next time,” he said.

 _ Next time?_ she thought. “I’ll hold you to that,” she said, and kissed him. 

They stood in the hallway, surrounded by the unseeing dead, and snogged until they were breathless.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Latin
> 
> With this hair I will to meet with truth,   
> body, your life, your breath, your blood. Make me a chart. Show me your place


	5. Sharing

All’s Fair

 5 

Sharing

 

“Just like that, Seamus! Don’t stop. Oh… Yes…Yessss. OH, FUCK YESSSS!!!”

Katie was coming again. She was still getting used to how good it was with him. The first time had been incredible, but as they had grown to know each other over the last few months it had become spectacular. She raked her fingernails down his back and he gave an appreciative groan. Seamus, it seemed, liked just a little pain to spice his pleasure. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and she had her heels wedged against his thighs for leverage. As he plunged into her, she would pull herself up into him with equal force. A small drop of sweat was making its way down his chest and she giggled to herself at the absurdity of her focus on such a thing while she built again towards another orgasm. A hand came up from the bed and cupped her breast, his thumb tracing her nipple. 

“Oh, Merlin… Good god, Seamus,” she said as another little earthquake shuddered around his cock. 

He rocked back onto his thighs, and her heels slid up to just behind his arse. The calluses on his palms felt rough and masculine as he gripped the sides of her hips.

“Gods, Katie, I’m coming for you.”

Her hand slid down to her pussy and gripped her index and middle fingers around his cock while she pressed the heel of her hand down on her clit. Two unintelligible screams split the afternoon. Never losing the connection, Seamus rolled them over so that she was resting on his chest. As she lazily traced her fingers through the hair she found there, several more aftershocks shook her and a few tears leaked from her eyes. It was so good with him.

“Off on a job next week?” she asked.

“Aye, and you off for training camp, then?”

She brought her head up and rested her chin on her hand, now still against his chest. “Yeah, Gwenog’s manager this year,” she chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” he said , laughing a bit himself.

“She’s gonna shit a quaffle if Ginny’s plan comes off,” she said.

Seamus looked at her with one eyebrow up in the _Well?_ expression.

“You can’t tell a soul, Seamus,” she said seriously.

A snort shook him. “Aye, well if there’s something I’ve learned in five years with the Aurors, it’s that I’m not to be trusted,” and he laughed.

“Okay, okay, you got me.” She looked at him with an evil grin. “Ginny’s off the potion.”

It took Seamus, the consummate Auror, a full fifteen seconds to put it together. “They’re trying for a baby?”

“You can’t let on, Seamus.”

He smiled, then bent his head down and kissed her. “I won’t. ‘Course if I see Harry alone I will have to take the mickey just a bit. Kind of an obligation, you know.”

“Just make sure no one else is around, especially Ron. He doesn’t know.”

“Why not?” he asked, bemused.

“How good is Hermione at keeping this kind of secret?”

“I see your point,” he said, and chuckled. “A Potter sprog? Gods, I don’t envy the kid.”

Katie leveled a fierce grin at him. “Well, you know how Ginny is about their privacy, and her mum is… unforgiving when it comes to the press.”

“And there’s George,” Seamus added, stroking her hair, “Yeah, I suppose the kid will be all right with those folks looking after him.”

A thump sounded from the next room. “Dean’s home,” Seamus said, “Poor guy, Luna’s been gone for almost two weeks now.”

Katie giggled. “I hope we didn’t make it harder on him… Oh shit,” she said and laughed at the double entendre.

“I’m sure we did,” Seamus said, and he ran his hand up her leg and over her arse to find her smooth, slick center. “You ever had a ten inch black cock?”

Katie laughed. “I… Umm that’s nice, I… Seamus, I can’t think well when you do that. Oh, yes there, umm… to answer your…ahh, question. No.”

“How’d you like to try one, then?”

She looked at him skeptically. “I don’t know, oh that’s nice, wouldn’t that make you a bit jealous?”

“Never bothered us before,” he said, and rocked her clit back and forth between two of his fingers. He felt her cinch her arms around him and hug him hard.

“Umm, ooh, gonna come again,” she said breathlessly, “I, Seamus, Yesssss,” and she ground herself on his hand and thigh.

“Oh good, I’ll just get him then,” he said, and tapped the wall behind the headboard three times.

“Huh? What?” Katie asked, still in a bit of a fog.

Seamus drew her up to him and kissed her, his hands sliding up to cup her breasts. He squeezed and kneaded them while he stroked her nipples with his thumbs. A hand slid down her side and smoothed along her waist, and yet another slid up between her thighs and found her again. She broke the kiss and arched up so that he could suckle her. He cupped a breast in each hand and tongued her half-plum nipples. The hand on her thigh slid a finger into her and she moaned; a second joined the first and began to work in and out of her trembling pussy. 

“Umm, Seamus, that’s …” She broke off as her eyes shot open. Seamus was still in front of her, a breast in each hand, and the other hand was still there in her, doing quite wonderful things. She smirked at Seamus. “Welcome to the party, Dean,” she said, and slid down Seamus’ torso. She kissed along his belly until she found his cock, and sucked the head into her mouth. Dean was still fingering her pussy and thumbing her clit as she propped herself up on her hands and knees. Seamus folded her hair over one side of her head so he could watch her deliver the blowjob that made all others pale in comparison. A cock slid into her and just kept on going. She gasped around Seamus as Dean probed depths as yet uncharted. 

“Don’t make her bite, mate,” she heard Seamus say.

There was a laugh. “I won’t,” Dean said as he slowly drew out and just as slowly slid back in again. This time he went even farther.

“HEEAAIIMM,” Katie squealed as she took Seamus all the way to the back of her throat.

Dean drew back out and then plunged all the way in until his balls rested against her clit. Katie pulled Seamus from her mouth and screamed, “Oh, Mighty Merlin!” Her pussy clenched around Dean and she quivered. “Wait ... just a second, I uh…” Her whole body shook and then she visibly relaxed. “Okay, go on, slowly … ooh.”

Seamus watched as the look of wonder formed on Katie’s face. It was the same look Pansy had had when Dean had taken her for the first time. He chuckled a bit and then relaxed back into his pillow as she took the head of his cock in her mouth and jerked him off with her left hand.

Dean had begun to gently, and with great care, work back and forth behind her. He had learned to be cautious and tender with his gift, and he had been rewarded with enthusiastic response from the women that had had the pleasure of his company. The tanned skin of her arse was smooth under his hands as he watched his cock slide in and out of her pink pussy. He drew back until the edge of his cock head was just visible and then plunged to the hilt. One of her arms buckled and she fell forward onto Seamus’ chest.

“Holy mother of god,” she gasped, “Oh, oh, Christ,” she panted each time he dove home. “Fuck me, Thomas. You’re so horny, fuck me, fuck me good.” 

Seamus was grinning like a madman while she jerked him off and then sucked him again. “Aye, and fuck you he will, me love.” He wedged his feet against her knees and the bed. “I got her mate,” he told Dean.

Katie was suddenly in another world. All she knew was that a massive cock was filling her like never before, slamming into her hard from behind, and her lover’s cock was in her hand and in her mouth. Waves of sugary pleasure were radiating from her pussy, and she was having trouble telling where one orgasm left off and another began. She pulled Seamus from her mouth so she could breathe. “Uh, UH, Oh, GOD!!!” she cried as she came yet again. She wasn’t really concentrating on the handjob she was giving Seamus and tried to make a mental note to make it up to him, but she couldn’t think. Her mind was mush, and all she could comprehend was that she was getting the fucking of her life. Seamus had made her come madly and a lot just half an hour ago and now she was on the verge of an orgasm that would shake the stars. Suddenly Dean pulled from her.

“What?” she managed to ask, “What are you, um…”

Dean laughed in his deep baritone, “Relax, Katie. I just want to watch you come from the front. Shay, Bridge?” he asked.

“Oh, aye, she’ll love it, and got the muscles to pull it off well, too.”

They rolled her over, kissing any part of her body that came near enough, then Dean lifted her legs up and put them on his shoulders and slid back into her again. Seamus scooted up behind her and draped her hair over his shoulders while he wrapped his arms around her waist. Dean and Seamus stood at the same time and she was suddenly suspended between them. Seamus kneaded her breasts and kissed her neck while Dean fucked her. He started slow but soon built to a furious pace. 

“Oh fuck, oh shit, oh Merlin!” she said breathlessly, “I’m gonna come, boys, gonna … a …” It wasn’t a scream. It wasn’t even a noise that humans normally _made_ ; it was half-howl and half-shriek. Her pussy clenched and squirted and Dean came with a mighty, “Oh, Blimey!”

The world swam around her as she floated back down onto the bed. Dean was still buried inside her, his knees on the bed as he kissed her calves. She could feel she was reclining on Seamus’ chest, but that was the extent of her mental capacity. Whenever she opened her eyes, two worlds battled each other as they swam in front of her.

“You all right, love?” she heard Seamus ask.

“Imglakay,” was the response.

She felt Seamus laugh. “Come again?”

She felt Dean laugh, too. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, mate, might kill the poor girl.”

Katie raised her hand to slap them but it only came halfway up before it fell back to the bed. She still didn’t think opening her eyes was a good idea, but her mental faculties were starting to work again. “Not fair, you two,” she said, “’S’not fair you can do this to a girl.” Dean laughed and she came again. “OHH, shit!” she panted, and then giggled a little. “Just don’t move for a moment, okay, Dean?”

“Whatever you say, Katie dear,” Dean said. “Thanks, by the way. I was going a bit off my nut with Luna gone.”

“You’re very welcome,” she said. “You okay, Seamus? You kind of got left out at the end there.”

“Oh, I’ll get mine in a while. You need to recover a bit.” He laughed. “First time with Dean takes it out of a girl.”

Katie laughed weakly. “Yeah, you two’ve done that to Luna, then?”

Seamus kissed her ear. “Oh, now and again. You see, Dean and I share everything, just like I told you we did.”

“Yeah, though I must say I was just a bit surprised and pleased at what ‘everything’ meant.”

Dean stroked his hand along her thigh. “Have since first year,” he said. “I’ve just got sisters at home and Seamus here, well, his older brother was no prince, and his sister is way older than he is, so we kind of bonded.”

“Brothers,” Seamus said, and held out his hand.

“Always,” Dean replied, and they gripped wrist to wrist.

“Like Ron and Harry, only a bit less gay,” Katie said, and laughed.

Seamus reared in mock indignation. “Hey, we’re not gay, and neither are Ron and Harry, We’re just all really good friendsss,” he ended with an exaggerated lisp and an imitation of Draco Malfoy’s voice.

A light dawned in Katie’s head. “That’s why Malfoy and Pansy broke up! He’s gay!”

“Wow, right on top of things, you are,” Dean said. “You didn’t know he came out?”

“Don’t really read the gossip pages … ohh,” she said as Dean withdrew from her and got to his feet.

“’Twas all over three years ago,” Dean said as he sat on the bed next to her legs. “Couldn’t go to the pub without hearin’ how Malfoy’d gone over and was dating Alistair MacDonald.

Seamus laughed. “Yeah, ran into him a bit back while I was out on a mission, I did. He’s a lot more relaxed now. Guess carryin’ that around all those years was part of what made him such an arse, ‘cause he was right friendly after.”

“Mmm, hungry,” Dean said. “You?” he asked Katie and Seamus.

“Man’s bottomless,” Seamus said shaking his head.

“I’m always hungry after getting some good pussy,” Dean said, and playfully swatted Katie’s arse.

Katie snuggled into Seamus. “I think I’ll stay right here,” she said, and turned on her side. Seamus’ cock was inches from her face, and she just couldn’t resist taking it.

“Oh, that’s grand, Katie me love, but you sure you’re ready just yet?” Seamus asked her.

There was the sound of her lips parting from him. “I’ll take it nice and slow,” and she took him again.

Dean laughed. “Have fun, you two,” he said, and headed to the kitchen.


	6. The Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now Lavender.

All’s Fair

The Wolf

 

 

Seamus knocked on the old wooden door. A few moments later an elderly man clutching his cane opened the door, and he smiled at the young Irishman. “It’s good to see you again, Seamus,” Lavender’s grandfather said to him. “She’s already down in the safe room.”

“Thanks, Walter. I’ll go down and say hello before sunset, and then I’ll be back up to catch up with you and your misses.”

The old man nodded. “Keep the faith, Seamus.” Walter Brown knew his granddaughter was deeply in love with the young man that was making his way to the basement stairwell, and he knew the young man loved her every bit as much. Why else would he come every week? Seamus had been very faithful about seeing Lavender, and the old man knew it was just a matter of time, and he hoped that Seamus would have the patience to wait her out.

The stairwell was dark, but he didn’t need a light, he’d been down these stairs a lot in the last few years. The first time Lavender had been furious with her grandparents for allowing him to see her in the throes of the change. Seamus had stayed for three more days until he convinced her that he didn’t care, that her affliction was not something he was afraid of. As the years had gone on he had made friends with the wolf. He wouldn’t be so foolish as to get in the cage with her, but she did allow him to pet her and feed her. The first time he had reached through the bars to stroke her fur he counted as one of his bravest moments.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the small lamp on the three legged table that sat across from the cage. Two chairs were next to the table and in one sat a beautiful blonde, to him at least. Lavender considered herself hideous. He told her, often, that the scars on her chest and left leg made no difference to him, but she hadn’t accepted that. Her face remained untouched, but the damage that Greyback had inflicted on her body was massive. She had a permanent limp from the wounds to her leg, the ones on her chest were ragged and still puffy, and the ring of scars circling her left breast where Greyback had bitten her still shown pink.

“Hello, Shay,” she said, not looking up from the book in her hands.

“Afternoon, love,” he said as he bent and kissed the top of her head. “What’s the reading?”

“Pride and Prejudice, I love Jane Austin,” she said as he sat in the other chair across from her.

“Haven’t read that meself. Prefer the modern stuff, I do. Though if you recommend it…”

She smiled softly and nodded. “You’d like it I think. You and Darcy have a lot in common.”

 He smiled back at her. “How’s that?”

Lavender looked in his eyes. “Principles, you live by them, and so does he.”

A small clock chimed on the wall. “Time to get undressed,” Seamus said, and he helped her to her feet. “Here, I’ll undo you. Turn around.” He lowered the zip on her dress and let it fall to the floor, she was naked under it. Lavender was in very good physical condition aside from her injuries. She walked as much as she could and made sure her weight didn’t get out of hand. From behind you’d never know. Seamus trailed a hand down her side and cupped her bum. “So fine…”

“Yeah, right.”

He turned her to face him and she saw the unshed tears in his eyes. “Aye, so fine. Lavender…”

Her heart broke for the thousandth time for him. “I know… I know, Shay.” She kissed him tenderly. “Come on, lock me in.” Lavender walked into the floor to ceiling cage and shut the door behind her.

Seamus gazed at the woman he loved behind the bars he hated. She was a prisoner in many ways. Wizarding society ostracized werewolves, so she couldn’t get work. Her scars held her body prisoner due to their inability to let her move properly, and her psyche, so mangled by the damage done to her physical form, was last to recover. He turned the key in the lock and hung the ring on its peg next to the door.

She reached through the bars and drew her hand lovingly down his face. “Thank you,” she said.

“I’ll always be here for you, Lavender, always.” The expression on his face was indelibly etched in her memory. He wore it every time he professed his love for her.

“I know.” She shook her head. “You shouldn’t wait for me, Shay. Parv tells me you’re seeing Katie Bell. I like Katie a lot, you should…”

“I can’t, Lavender, I can’t,” he said thickly and shook his head. “I’ve told her everything. She knows. She knows I’m not a man who’ll be settling down anytime soon. She knows I’m not looking for anything permanent, and she knows me heart’s already taken.”

A tear tracked down her cheek. “I love you, Shay.”

“And I love you, my beautiful lass, forever. There’s only you… only you.”

Lavender looked into his eyes and saw the truth of it. The one and only thing that had kept her from taking her own life stood before her. He was hers, always, and he would stand on the other side of these bars and wait for her until the stars fell. The only man who had ever really loved her, the only man besides her grandfather who had seen her in her wolf form, and the only man who had ever made love to her took her hand and kissed it. “I’ll bring you dinner after the change,’ he said and stepped back.

She stared into his eyes as she did every time he was present for the change. She always wanted that to be the last thing she saw before the wolf took her, and the first thing she saw on waking in the morning. It would be, she knew. He would be sitting in the chair reading when she woke. The first flare of pain announced the beginning of the change. “See you in the morning, my love,” she said.

Seamus nodded, and tear slid down his face as Lavender screamed in pain. Her eyes slowly changed from the emerald green he could never get enough of to the golden, angry orbs of the wolf. She fell to the floor and twitched as her legs and arms stretched and swelled. Fur spouted and covered her in moments, and her face, her beautiful face became the mask of the wolf.

As always the wolf was angry and confused after the pain of the transition. It snarled a snapped at Seamus through the bars while he gently talked to her.

“Shh… Shhh… It’s okay, Lavender.” he knelt just out of range of the powerful jaws and looked her in the face. “Calm down, me love.” He reached behind his back and found her water bowl. Pulling his wand he levitated the bowl through the slot in the bars made for it. “Have a drink.”

The wolf stopped pacing and lapped at the water.

Seamus laughed dryly. “Always makes you a bit thirsty.” He smiled at her and she looked up at him. A small whimper sounded from her. “Aye, I know it hurts, but it’s not me doing. _Analgesus,_ ” he said, and waved his wand down her body. A contented growl told him the charm was working, and her pain was subsiding. He and the wolf had become almost friends, it wouldn’t attack him he was fairly sure, but he wasn’t sure about anyone else. “Hungry?’ he asked in a lighter voice. A vigorous tail wag told him the answer. “I’ll be back with your dinner in a bit then.”

 

(***)

 

“How was Lavender?” Katie asked.

Seamus stared at the ceiling and twirled a lock of her hair. “The same.”

Katie nodded. “Yeah.”

It was very early in the morning and they were lying in her bed. Seamus had show up a few hours earlier and had made love to her almost angrily. His need was so strong that she was nearly taken aback by its ferocity. She smiled. She could be angry with him for it, but what purpose would that serve. He needed to feel, he needed to be comforted, he needed her, and she was more than willing. Katie had come to understand the workings of his heart more than anyone. It would be easy to fall in love with him, very easy, but that would be foolish in the extreme. He loved her as a friend, as a lover, but that’s where it ended. She would never cause the look of longing that crossed his face when he spoke about his real true love.

She’d been thinking for a while about that and had decided to help him. It might cost her the best sex of her life, but he was one of her oldest and dearest friends, and Lavender needed him more. And after all she was a Gryffindor. “Seamus?”

“Aye?”

“Will you take me to see her?”

He shifted on the bed and looked at her. “Why?’

“I think she needs a friend.”

“She’s got Parvati.”

“She needs a friend who’ll kick her arse.”

“That’s what I’m for.”

“But you don’t. Not where it counts.” She snuggled into his chest. “You love her too much to ever say anything strong to her, I know you.”

He heaved a sigh. “Aye, you’re right.”

“Listen, Seamus, I could fall in love with you very easily and quickly if I let my heart get in front of my head, but I know… I know, and she needs to get on with her life, and you need to have her in yours all the time, and neither one of you will be happy without the other.” She raised herself up on her elbows and looked at him sternly. “You’re bloody fucking Gryffindors, the both of you. Muscle up and get on with it!”

“You are amazing, Katie Bell. Really amazing,” he smiled at her and stroked his hand down her hair. “Okay, I’ll take you to see her.”

“Good, now fuck me.”

“That I shall, me lass, that I shall.”  
  


 

(***)

 

 

“Why haven’t you been flying?” Katie asked as she dismounted.

Lavender looked down at the grass of the harpies training pitch. “I don’t like being out in public.”

“But you’re very good at it, and it’s great exercise,” Katie said. She put her hand on Lavender’s shoulder and turned her so their eyes met. “Come out with me and train. You can toss the Quaffle for me, try and steal it, lots of things.”

“But I’m… I’m a…”

“Beautiful woman, Lavender,” she said.

“Yeah.”

Katie grabbed her firmly by both shoulders. “Yes. You. Are. Damn it!” 

Lavender looked shocked for a moment then it turned to anger. “You don’t know!” she nearly shouted as she tossed her broom to the ground. “What that monster did to me, what he…” her chest heaved and she shook Katie’s hands from her shoulders. “He made me a monster too, that evil fuck! He took my future, he took everything. You can’t understand what it’s like, Katie. You can’t know.” She stood tall, her eyes flashed with anger, and her hands were balled in fists.

“And at last there she is,” Katie said with a satisfied smile.” I knew that Gryffindor girl was in there.”

“What?”

“The reason I had Shay bring me over last week, the reason I brought you here, the reason I just pissed you off is that you are being an IDIOT!” she looked her friend squarely in the eyes. “We don’t fucking care, Lavender. I’ve asked. You know Hermione right.”

“You could say that,” the blonde woman replied sardonically.

“Yeah, well you know how she feels about unfair treatment, correct?”

Lavender snorted. “Don’t we all.”

“Yes, we do, and the department for the regulation and control of magical species is getting an ear full from her right now on werewolf rights. I know you don’t want it public knowledge, but she knew anyway. The more I talked to her about it the more pissed off she got. You saw the steamrolled that is Hermione Weasley on a mission when she took on the Wizengamot over the elves, didn’t you?”

Lavender couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her. “Poor fuckers never saw that one coming did they?”

 Katie chuckled too. “Nope, and if possible she’s even more serious about you. The Lupins were good friends of “The Golden Trio,”’ -she made air quotes with her fingers that made Lavender smile- “and she’s never forgotten them… or you. You have a lot of friends, Lavender. Friends I’m sure you didn’t know you had. You’ve shut yourself up in a cloister for five years and locked away everyone that could and would help you. It’s fucking stupid and that bullshit’s stopping today.”

Lavender was taken aback. She stared at Katie in confusion.

“You _will_ be coming out with me to train. You _will_ come with me Saturday night to the reunion of the DA girls,” Katie said in a very firm voice. She put her hands back on Lavender’s shoulders, locked eyes with her, and in a much softer voice said, “And you will let Seamus Finnigan in.”

“But…”

“But fucking nothing, Lavender.” Now it was Katie’s turn to show anger. “He is an incredible man.” She shook her head and huffed, “Fucking incredible. You have a man who loves you with a devotion the rest of us dream about, and YOU are being fucking stupid. STOP IT!”

Lavender looked at the ground and smiled. “You’re a bitch, you know that, right?’

“It’s been pointed out before.”

“I…”

Katie cut her off. “I will be by at Half Five on Saturday to help you get ready, so be ready for me.” Katie showed her friend a soft, loving smile. “So, I suppose the rest of the today in dress shopping, yeah?”

 

(***)

 

 

“You must be Miss Bell,” Lavender’s Grandfather said as he opened the door. He was practically dancing he was so happy. “She’s up in her room. Thank you so much, Miss Bell, I…”

“Katie, please Mr. Brown.”

“Walter, then, if you please,” he said. “Thank you for giving her the shove. She needed it so badly.” He looked at the ceiling and in a hushed voice continued. “She’s still talking about not going. I know she wants to, but she’s so…”

Katie hugged the old man. “Don’t worry, Walter.  I’ll drag her out if I have to.” She laughed. “But just wait till I’m done with her, she’ll want to go.”

“UP you go then.”

 

 

“Walter! Emilia!” Katie shouted from the top of the stairs. Lavenders grandparents gathered at the bottom of the stairs and looked expectantly up at Katie. “Okay, Lav, come on out.”

Lavender stepped from her room and rounded the top of the stairs. Her grandmother broke into sobs, and tears flowed down Walters face. “That’s my beautiful little flower,” he said as she descended the stairs. The pale blue, calf length dress hugged her upper body. It showed her form without showing her hurts, and the taller neckline hid the scars on her chest. She looked completely normal. Then he noticed something in her walk.” You’re not limping?”

Katie smiled at him from over Lavender’s shoulder. I um… borrowed one of our charmed knee braces from club infirmary.” She looked at Lavender. “Why haven’t the idiots at St. Mungo’s given you one?”

Lavender looked at her. “Don’t know. I’ve never seen one of these.” She pulled up her skirt a little to reveal the leather and steel contraption on her leg.” It works well though.”

“Well, next week when you come and help me train we’re cornering Lila and having her make you one of your own.” She turned to Walter and Emilia. “Lila is our team healer. She obviously knows more about these kinds of injuries than the clown squad at St. Mungo’s.”

Emilia chuckled. “You don’t seem to have to high an opinion of the healers there.”

“No, Emilia, I don’t.” she looked into the distance. “My younger brother died there. They fu… they messed up, badly. Wrong diagnosis, wrong potion, wrong everything.” She shook in anger where she stood. “Not today,” She said quietly to herself. She smiled and looked at Lavender. “Ready?”

 

(***)

 

Parvati embraced her as she stepped through the door of the Leaky Cauldron. “You came! Oh, Lavender, everyone will be so happy.” Parvati turned and her sister was right behind her.

Padma wrapped her sister’s best friend in a hug. “We are truly happy, Lav.” She pushed her back and looked in her eyes. “So that sulking bullshit’s over, right Gryffindor girl?”

Lavender had the modesty to blush. “I suppose so.”

“Good, now.” She turned to the rest of the room. “Hey everyone, look who’s here!” With squeals of delight a crowd of women descended upon Lavender. 

They were all there.  Hannah, Katie, Susan, Cho, Marietta (forgiven after it was learned Umbridge used the _Imperius_ curse and Veritaserum on her), Angelina, Luna, Padma, Parvati, Alicia, Ginny, and of course Hermione now Weasley. Hermione got to there first, and she wrapped her arms around Lavender.

“I’m so glad you came. Lav...” and she began to cry. Ginny hugged them both and soon the entire group was one mass weeping hug.

After a minute Lavender sniffed her tears away and said, “I love you all too, but the air is getting a bit thin in here.”

As the group parted and dabbed at their eyes, Hannah turned to Lavender. “Look at you!” she shook her head. “Beautiful as ever.” She laughed. “Sickening that is.”

Lavender smiled and tipped her head. “The dress covers a lot.”

Hannah laughed again. “Yeah, and your still prettier by half that any of the rest of us.”

“Well there might be a man or two that would argue that, Hannah.” Angelina said. “But they’re married to the girls here so they have to.” She looked at Lavender. “But other than them, she’s right.”

“To right, sis.” Ginny said. “I think all Lavender here has to do is ask Finnigan if she’s pretty or not, he’ll tell her.”

“Well…”

“Oh, come on, Lav,” Ginny said. “I watched you two that year.” She laughed. “Actually we all watched you and him that year. It was one of the bright spots, seeing the two of you so in love.”

“Had a betting pool actually,” Alicia said.

“On what?” Lavender asked.

Hannah smirked and chortled. “On when the two of you would uh … do the deed.”

Lavender looked half amused and half offended. “You bitches!’

“Oh it wasn’t just the girls, Lavender,” Luna said. “I think the only non-participants where Dean, Seamus.” She paused. “They didn’t know.” She whispered. “And me,” she said brightly. “I held the bet.”

Lavender closed her eyes, laughed, and shook her head. “Who won?”

“Well, now that’s a good question,” Padma said from behind her. “We actually don’t know because the two of you were so good we never found out if you did or not. By your question just now I’m assuming there’s a winner?”

Lavender smiled. “Yeah, there is.” She looked around at her friends. “Who had Easter Holls?”


	7. The Dragon

_(A/N) my constant readers will recognize a few things in this chapter. The Dragon Friends first appeared in a story called The Division Bell and I had always wanted them in this story for reasons that will become apparent. Asgre and Horatius are very important to the story arc I have planned for this little tale. This is a slightly different version of the Kind and the Friends than in The Division Bell, and I hope you enjoy where we go from here._

 

 

All’s Fair

The Dragon

 

The port key decanted them on the side of a windswept hill in Wales, and the first thing Lavender heard was the roar of a dragon echoing through the valley. Fresh raindrops littered the grass, and it soaked the hem of her cloak as she and Seamus descended the slope toward the large stockade on the valley floor.

“’Twas good o’ Charlie to invite me down to see the new reserve, and tell me to bring a friend,” said Seamus as he took her hand. “He’d been missing his family that last few years, Ron tells me. Now that he’s here in Wales he sees them all the time.” He turned to her. “I know it’s just been two weeks since you’ve started going out, and that’s mostly been just with Katie training,”-he kissed her hand- “and dates with me. Thanks for coming today, Lav.”

Lavender drew her hand lovingly down the side of his face. “I actually really liked the idea, Shay,” she said and smiled. “The dragons were so beautiful.” She gazed across the valley, searching the crags. “I can’t wait to see one again.” She kissed his cheek. “Thanks for bringing me.”

“Anywhere, anytime, me love,” Seamus said. “Charlie says we’ll get a pretty close look.”

 

“I’ve only met Charlie twice.” She sniggered to herself. “At the weddings.” She started to laugh.

Seamus smiled at the memory. “Aye, I remember. Twas the only time you let me get you out of the house.” He looked sidelong at her. “All right, what’s so funny?”

She looked back at the handsome Irishman next to her. “Charlie Weasley is a pussy magnet,” she said through her laughter. “I swear, the man walks in a room and all your going to hear is the sound of knickers hitting the floor.” Lavender smiled at her own memories. When Charlie arrived at the church for Ron and Hermione’s wedding there had been a mass gasp of astonishment among the women gathered around the door to the bride’s room.

“Who the bloody fuck is that?” Susan Bones had asked.

“My brother, Charlie,” Ginny had said and laughed, “Be careful.”

Katie had turned to her and asked, “Why’s that?”

“Let’s just say my brother isn’t the kind that commits to anything but his job.”

Heads nodded around the circle of women. “Is he currently unattached?” Padma inquired.

Ginny looked across the room at her brother exchanging hugs with her father. “As far as I know.”

“Good!” Susan announced, and marched across the room to introduce herself. She had, at the gathering of the DA girls, told Lavender that the young dragon tamer had in his possession a two inch thick, eight inch long cock that he knew how to use. But best of all were the tattoos. They apparently covered his chest, back, and legs, and, much like other wizarding portraits, they moved. The dragon that wrapped itself around his torso and over his shoulder could crawl down his body, send its forked tongue along his cock, and cause it to twitch and twist inside her. Lavender felt herself getting aroused by the memory of what Susan had relayed. One thing in particular made her squirm.

“I looked down at one point, and… oh fuck, Lavender! The dragon was nuzzling my cunt, and his tongue was making Charlie’s cock dance inside me, and I thought I’d pass out! I came SO HARD.”

She shook herself and came back to the present. “Ever thought about tattoos, Shay?”

 

(######)

 

“Finnigan!” a voice called out. Seamus looked down the slope that led away from the Port key arrival pad to see a burly redheaded man striding up the hill toward them. As he walked toward them he smiled at Lavender. “Well, when you said you’d bring a guest, you didn’t tell me you’d be bringing a beauty.” He stuck out his hand. “Charlie Weasley.”

Lavender smiled and took his hand. “Lavender Brown, we’ve met.”

Recognition lit his eyes. “Yes, yes we have. What, three years ago now, right?”

“Three and a bit, yes.”

Charlie laughed. It was a sound Lavender was by turns familiar with and intrigued by. Much like Ron’s, but it sounded like Charlie laughed all the time. Ron did not, in her experience. “I’ve heard a bit, quite a bit about you. It’s all good, even from my brother’s wife.”

Lavender sniggered. “Well, Hermione and I have had our moments, but that’s all in the past. It’s kind of hard to stay mad at someone who’s saved your life.”

“Our at someone who’s life you saved,” Charlie said wisely. “Let me show you around.”

The Dragon Friends, as they called themselves, lived with their charges. Charlie explained the peculiar relationship as he led Lavender and Seamus around the reserve grounds near the compound. “We approach this very differently than they do in Romania,” he told them seriously. The dragons, we call them “the Kind”, are pretty smart. We treat them well and they cooperate. In fact, as you can see, we’re the ones in the cage.” He pointed to the stockade and laughed. “They have the run of the valley, and we’re stuck in there most of the time. They know we aren’t here to kill them or abuse them.” He smiled at his friends. “One of them, the one you’ll meet, we call her Asgre, she lets us ride her,” -he chuckled- “on occasion, when she’s feeling particularly friendly.”

“Harry tells me you have that one they rode out of Gringotts, that her?” Seamus asked.

Charlie laughed and shook his head. “Ah, no. That would be Horatius, biggest one of the lot by far. Ironbellys get big, but fuck!” He shook his head. “A least they fed him well in that hell hole. Yeah, he’s a bit… testy still.” He smiled sadly. “Me and Shelly are the only humans he has tolerated, and I wouldn’t want to be a goblin in his presence. He has a real problem with short people, and if he smells goblin…” he puffed out a breath.

“They still hacked about that?” Lavender asked.

“Who, the goblins?” Charlie asked bemused. At Lavender’s nod he smiled. “Yeah, well, Fuck them if they are. Best thing that Harry, Ron and Hermione did, besides sending Riddle to the hell he deserved, was freeing Horatius.”

Lavender laughed. “Hermione is wearing off on you.”

Charlie smiled and muttered, “actually she’s rubbing off on my little brother, but that’s a different story. Yeah, no,” he said a bit louder. “I like to think I’m rubbing off on her. She says the Kind are next on her list after you.” At Lavenders sour look he became stern. “God damn it Brown look at me,” he said gruffly, and she did.  “I know  ‘cuase I’m family, and she discusses all this shit with us, but you won’t find a single person in this valley that’d give a flying fuck what happens to you on the full moon. We work with fucking dragons; you got something scarier than that?”

She couldn’t help but smirk. Seamus smiled over her shoulder and Charlie winked at him. “Yeah, I thought not, so let’s move on. I invited you down here for a couple of reasons. We’re testing some of the Kind to see how they react to strangers, want to see how well they can distinguish between us. They’ve never met you so it’ll be interesting to watch. We’ve tried it five times so far and they seem to be accepting as long as you’ve never eaten dragon, they can smell it.” Charlie looked at them questioningly. Seamus and Lavender both shook their heads. The red head laughed. “Good. They let us have Albion Flint out of Azkaban for a day to test that. Good thing we can do some pretty strong shields, he’d be a cinder.” He chuckled again. “But the reason I wanted you specifically Finnigan is because in the last three months we’ve found the remains of, what we think, are five poachers, and we don’t like it. The Kind have taken care of the problem by themselves so far, but it was three the first time and two the second time. One probably survived and escaped, so it’s just a matter of time before one of these arseholes succeeds.”

“You sure they were poachers and not just stupid?” Seamus asked.

“Actually, I think they were both,” Charlie laughed again.

“Ah, you got me there you have,” Seamus laughed. “So, what is it you want from me?”

Charlie patted Seamus on the back. “We want the best Auror in the ministry to find out what’s happening,” he said seriously. “That’s what we want. I asked Harry and Ron who to get.” All the joviality fell away and Seamus and Lavender were taken aback by the change in his demeanor. “Listen, the stupid fucks that tried got what they deserved. We love our friends here, and they care for us. They know how angry we are about this. We want these fuckers. Here.” His voice descended into a growl much like his charges. “They want to see a dragon up close and personal?” He nodded his head. “We’ll arrange it.”

 

(######)

 

At the end of the valley, near the compound, a large cave extended into the hillside. A telltale wisp of smoke lazily drifted skyward from the peak of the opening, and Seamus could hear a rumble from within the cave perhaps three hundred feet away. “What’s that sound?” he asked.

Charlie chuckled. “Asgre snores.”

Lavender turned to him. “Yes, well perhaps we should let sleeping dragons… sleep.”

“Bah,” Charlie said with a laugh. “Lazy bitch has been asleep for three days, bout time we woke her up. ASGRE!!!” he shouted. “Get up you fat cow!” he turned to Lavender and Seamus. “Stay right here”

From the interior of the cave came the sound of snuffling and rocks falling. A loud, deep bass groan preceded the appearance of a very large green dragon squeezing herself from the mouth of the cave. Charlie was already there. Asgre reared on her hind legs, spread her wings, and stretched like a cat. Lavender was struck to her soul at how beautiful the dragon was, a great glittering green jewel in the morning sun. The ground shook when she settled back on all fours and nudged Charlie with her snout. He staggered back a few feet and laughed. “Yeah, Yeah, I love you too.”

“Well now we know why he never married,” Lavender whispered to Seamus in an amused voice.

At the sound of Lavenders voice Asgre looked up at her from over Charlie’s head. A sound, almost like a question issued from deep in her throat and she stated toward the spot where Seamus and Lavender stood. “Stay where you are,” Charlie said quickly and calmly. “Don’t draw your wands.”

Seamus’ hand trembled a little in Lavender’s, and she smiled. “It’s okay, Shay,” she said. “She’s just curious.”

“How do you know that?” he asked bemused.

“I can feel it,” she said in an amazed whisper. She dropped Seamus’ hand and walked toward the dragon.

Lavender Brown had come from a long line of sensitives, but it had skipped her, until she had been bitten. After that, cats hated her, dogs worshiped her, and rabbits feared her. She had found that she could sense the emotional state of most animals, and people, if she concentrated. But what was happening now with Asgre paled everything that had come before. The huge green dragon strode up to her and stuck her head, twice the size of Lavender’s whole body, against her chest and sniffed. A long moan came from Asgre.

“She’s sad,” Lavender said, and she laid her palm on the bridge of Asgre’s snout. “For me.” A tear slid down her cheek. “It’s okay, Asgre,” she said and pressed her cheek against the dragon’s. “It’s alright.”

The dragon had her eyes closed and stroked Lavender’s body with her whiskers, tracing her wounds. Then Asgre opened her eyes and nudged at Lavender’s robe. 

“What’s this all about?” Seamus asked Charlie from a few yards away as they watched the scene unfold.

“No idea. We’ve never seen this behavior… with a human” he finished in an awed whisper. “It’s… it’s like they treat their wounded, a little,” he nodded, and said in a quiet voice, “Brown, strip.”

“What!” Seamus said.

“Lose the clothes, girl,” Charlie commanded.

“Now wait just a minute!” Seamus said angrily. Asgre snorted and turned to them.

“Keep. Your. Voice. Down!” Charlie said quietly and seriously. “Stay calm!” Charlie put his arm around Seamus and smiled at the dragon. “It’s fine Asgre.” The dragon snorted and turned back to Lavender. “Go on, Brown. Off with your kit.”

Lavender smiled at them. “It’s okay, Shay. I’m safe.”

“Turn around, Weasley,” Seamus commanded. “Now.”

Charlie smirked, but did as he was told, and Seamus nodded to Lavender. She laid her robe and wand on a nearby rock, reached behind he back and lowered the zip of her dress, then she pulled it over her head. Her bra followed, she kicked off her shoes, and pulled her knickers down over her knee brace. Lavender stood naked but for the brace in front of the dragon. 

As Lavender removed her clothes Charlie looked sideways at Seamus. “Didn’t want me to see how fine she is, eh Finnigan?”

Seamus looked back at him seriously. “Not it at all. I didn’t want her to see the look on your face when you saw what Greyback did to her.”

The smile fled from Charlie’s face and he nodded. “Yeah, forgot about that part. Sorry.”

Seamus nodded back to him and turned back to Lavender and the dragon.

Asgre bent and traced the brace with her whiskers, and then she nudged the brace too. “I don’t walk properly without it, Asgre,” Lavender said to the dragon. Asgre nudged the brace again and Lavender sighed and removed it as well. With the utmost care Asgre traced Lavender’s wounds with her whiskers. Seamus looked on entranced.

“What’s happening, Finnigan?” Charlie asked from behind him.

“The dragon is feeling Lav’s scars with her whiskers,” he said. “You all right, love?” he asked.

“It’s fine, Shay,” Lavender said, looking into Asgre’s eyes and stroking her chin. “She’s not hurting me. She wants to help.”

“Now the dragon is standing,” Seamus told Charlie. “She’s got her head right over Lav. She’s turning her head sideways and…”

A twenty gallon tear fell from Asgre onto Lavender, and she screamed. Seamus started to run toward her but felt the _Petrificus Totalus_ spell take hold of him “Sorry, Finnigan.  You can’t interfere; she’d kill you in heartbeat.” Charlie hissed in his ear. “Now watch.”

Lavender was writhing on the ground. Smoke spiraled up from her wounds and Seamus, with Charlie looking over his shoulder, watched as her scars changed before his eyes. The pink and puffy claw marks on her chest smoothed out and faded to white. Black thick liquid oozed from the bite as the teeth marks healed and faded. Another tear followed and Lavender gasped in relief. Then one last tear fell on her leg and Lavender howled again. A cloud of acrid smoke rose from her leg and Lavender struggled to stand. She looked down at her leg in amazement as those wounds also healed and faded white.

“The phoenix and the Kind share a common ancestor. They do this for each other,” Charlie said quietly as he released Seamus. “Watched them do it for Horatius, but I never thought they’d do it for us, didn’t know the tears worked on humans.” He laid a hand on Seamus’ shoulder. “Sorry I had to freeze you. You’d be dead if I hadn’t.”

Seamus harrumphed and looked back at Lavender and the dragon. 

Lavender gazed into the dragon’s eyes with tears of her own streaming down her face. Then she raced forward and hugged as much of the dragon’s neck as she could get her arms around. Asgre stroked her gently with her whiskers and rubbed the side of her face against Lavender. After a few moments Lavender drew back and placed a gentle kiss on the dragon’s snout. “Thank you, Asgre,” she said. Asgre nuzzled her and dropped one shoulder.

“She wants you to climb on,” Charlie said quietly from where he and Seamus were watching, amazed.

Lavender turned smiling to them, and for the first time in five years Seamus beheld her flawless skin. The marks were still there, but they were just white shadows of their former horror. She twirled, smiled, and winked at Charlie’s open mouthed gape. It was then that Seamus noticed the limp and the favoring of her left side were completely gone. She mouthed _I love you_ to him _,_ then lithely scampered up Asgre’s leg, and sat on her shoulders. Lavender grasped two large protrusions on Asgre’s neck scales as the dragon reared and sped her wings with a deafening bass snap. Then they were gone, soaring into the sky.

~*~

 

_I am free! The shackles that were my wounds have fallen from me. Asgre has healed me, and I could not love the beautiful green goddess beneath me more. She can feel me, as I can feel her, our magic flowing between us and around us. The lycanthropy is still there, I can feel that too, but it hardly matters. The gift of knowing Asgre is worth the price. I feel her joy, I feel her love for her Kind, and I feel her love for me. She prepares to power us up into the blue vault of the heavens, and I grasp her dorsal plates and howl in sympathetic elation._

_Asgre trumpets to her Kind, and they join us. We soar and dive in great circles around their valley home. I am weeping, and laughing, and shouting my joy, as Asgre and her Kind sing with me. She is warm beneath me, and my nakedness is nothing. Suddenly a giant is among us. He is pure white, and he is ancient. Asgre soars again, higher than ever, and I feel what she wants me to do._

_I pull my legs from around her neck, release my grasp, and stand. Asgre falls away beneath me, and I am soaring with my friends, arms outstretched, flying, as naked as they are. Then the great white god is beneath me. I fall gently to his back, crawl to his shoulders, and mount._

_And it is then that I fully feel HIM._

_They call him Horatius, his true name lost to the millennia, and he is the oldest thing alive that there is. Five years is but a blink of an eye for Horatius, but he has come very far in these five years, recovering from his imprisonment. He has been healed of his blindness and his wounds by his family’s tears, cured of his madness by their love, and restored to his full strength buy the care of his human friends. He will carry his anger at the goblins forever, but he has chosen the higher path. He will not seek them out and avenge himself upon them for their insult, though it is his right. His pride fills me, his calm washes through me, and at last I am at peace. I am loved, by my new friends, and by the most patient and wonderful man possible._

_Horatius and I spiral into the sky, and I howl with him in the pure rapture of being._

 

~*~

 

“JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!!” Seamus shouted, as Lavender fell through the sky above them. “What the blazing fuck is she doing?”

“Got know idea, mate,” Charlie said. “Every bit of this is new to us... holy fuck, that’s Horatius!”

They stood near the front of the compound, having Apparated there shortly after Lavender and Asgre had taken flight. Charlie suggested it when the other dragon keepers had emerged to watch the show in the sky above the reserve. When Asgre had called the Kind to her a murmur of wonder sounded through the group. Now they were shouting in awe as Lavender flew astride Horatius. The great white dragon pushed them nearly out of sight with great beats of his wings, and then they dove, the massive animal folding his wings and accelerating towards the ground. Seven hundred feet from the field Seamus, Charlie, and the rest of the dragon keepers stood in, he unfurled his wings again, and pulled out of the dive.

Horatius and Lavender passed a mere one hundred feet above the gathered humans, the ground effect pressure wave nearly taking them off their feet. Shouts of glee sounded all around the group as they cheered Lavender on. After one more circuit of the valley, and another dizzying dive, Horatius gently settled to the earth of the field a few hundred feet from Seamus and the gathered dragon keepers. Lavender dismounted and walked to the enormous white dragon’s head. Then she kissed him on his nose and hugged his cheek.

“No one ever will harm you again,” said Lavender as she looked around at the dragons landing in the field. “Any of you, while I live.”

Horatius nuzzled her, spread his wings, and ascended back into the sky. One by one, starting with Asgre, all the dragons did the same. They would approach Lavender, stroke her with their whiskers or nuzzle her, and then depart. When the last, a young horntail, had bid farewell to Lavender she saw the pile of her clothes appear in front of her with her wand resting on top of them. _Thanks, Shay,_ she thought and smiled even more broadly than she already was. _You are in for it tonight, my love._ With a quick flick of her wand her clothes vanished from the ground and reappeared on her. “They never come on quite right,” she said to herself as she adjusted her bra and knickers. Laughing, she turned to the assembled crowd and started toward them.

Seamus was already on his way, with Charlie close behind. Lavender started to run toward him, and they crashed together in the middle of the field. He lifted her off the ground, and she peppered his face with kisses before latching on to his lips and snogging him senseless.

 

(######)

 

“Just like that, Shay,” Lavender said, breathlessly. “Oh gods, yes!” she said as she came again.

 Seamus hovered over her, unshed tears of joy pooling in his eyes. _Five years. It certainly was worth the wait,_ he thought. He bent and kissed her as he moved firmly inside her. “I love you, so much,” he said, and kissed the tears from the corners of her eyes. “You know it’s always been you, always.”

“Then come for me, come with me,” she pleaded.

He was nearly there. All it took for her was few more well timed thrusts, and then they were crying, clutching at each other, and weeping with joy.


	8. The Healing

All’s Fair

The Healing

“Brown! Your boyfriend’s here,” Shelly called across the common hall.

“Shay!” Lavender cried as she ran to him. “You’re a day early.” She hugged him tightly and sighed as he kissed her.

“Harry told me I should come down today,” said Seamus after a moment, as he pulled back from her welcome. “Told me I should reinforce the wards Charlie and I did, he also said after three weeks apart we should have a night to ourselves.”

“Great boss you got there.” Lavender laughed.

Seamus smiled. “He tries. Part o’ the reason it took Kingsley so long to get Ron and Harry to join was Harrys insisting on personal time for us. Now he’s department head, he’s making sure we all get time off.”

Lavender nodded and smiled. “Always liked Harry,” she said, and then she looked at Seamus seriously. “You caught him?”

Seamus tipped his head. “Caught’s a relative term,” he said. “Harcourt Ellison’s not hurting anyone ever again.”

Lavender nodded. “I know it’s hard, Shay, but you did the right thing. He was a murderer.”

“Aye, I know.” He smiled at her. “Cho says it best for us, she does. ‘I don’t mind being the instrument of someone’s well deserved karma’”

“She’s right.” Lavender said and took his hand. “It’s good you’re here. I’m just headed out to check on Horatius, and I’ve been wanting to introduce you to him.”

Seamus chuckled. “How’s you other boyfriend going to feel about me?”

“He’ll be fine, Shay,” Lavender said and laughed. “Horatius isn’t the jealous type.”

“And your other friends?” he asked “They still infatuated with you?”

Lavender smiled contentedly. “They love me, Shay, the Kind and the Friends.” She looked around the hall at her workmates. “None of them care, none of them fear me. I love it here.”

“That’s what Parvati said. Spoke with her Friday when she came back from her weeks visit, I did.” Seamus smiled broadly. “What’s this about a show?”

Lavender blushed. “It was Charlie and David’s idea actually.” At Seamus’ confunded look she said, “David’s our accountant, among other things, and he and Charlie thought some public exposure might help us protect the Kind.”

“What kind of ‘public exposure’” Seamus asked.

“Parv and Pansy think that it’d be a great draw for their next charity game. We’d have to make some arrangements for safety, but once we have that in place we could present one of the Kind to the public in a way that would help them fear the Kind less and maybe love them more.”

“Sounds like a cracking idea. Where do you come in?” he asked.

She blushed again and looked down. “I’d be the one doing the presenting.”

Seamus snickered. “Aye, and you’ll be great at it too. Who would you present, Horatius, Asgre?”

“No, no, no, he’s had quite enough exposure, and she’s just not the right one. No, we were thinking of the other end of the scale.” She snickered. “As it were. Dante is our youngest, the most playful, he’s gorgeous, and he loves me as much as Asgre does.”

Seamus smiled at her. “Aye, well that’ll be good then. You’ll have to introduce me to him as well sometime.”

Lavender took his hand. “Horatius first, I think.” She tilted her head toward the door. “Care to go meet the oldest living thing on earth?”

“Anywhere, anytime, my love,” He said, and followed her out onto the trail that led to the common field.

As he walked by her side, Seamus took Lavenders hand and smiled. The last two months had seen her blossom into the woman he knew she could be. After her spectacular introduction to the Dragon Friends they had immediately commandeered her. Charlie had been right behind Seamus, and when Lavender had finished snogging the young Irishman to near unconsciousness he had asked her, “So, Brown, ever considered dragon keeping?”

She had started the next day.

The first thing she learned was that the Dragon Friends were very scholarly. They expected her to learn everything known about the Kind, and Lavender had taken that challenge head on. During her tenure at Hogwarts she had been a less than diligent student, but leaning the Kind was a completely different thing to Lavender. She excelled, and her studies had led to a new and surprisingly deep level of friendship with Hermione.

Her ex-dorm mate, friend, enemy, friend, and savior turned out to be one of the kindest and most passionate people Lavender had ever known. Hermione had achieved something no one thought possible with the act freeing of the elves and installing work rights laws for them. Now her brilliant mind was focused on Lavender and others with her affliction. Seamus knew Hermione well. He knew that, even with their previous experience dealing with her, the Wizengamot was in for another in their face, unstoppable juggernaut in the form of the petite Mrs. Weasley. He laughed.

“What,” Lavender asked.

Seamus kissed her hand. “I just realized Hermione’s going to be Minister for Magic one day.”

Lavender snorted. “Really? Parv, Pady, Marietta, and I figured that out 8 years ago.”

At Seamus’ bemused look she continued. “We were sitting around the courtyard I think, and the discussion ran to who would be Minister when our generation got the chance. It was a short list that got to one fairly quickly. She’s it, like it or not.” Lavender smiled. “I like it.”

“Aye, she will be great at it when the time comes.” He looked up at the small shed they had come to. “What’s this?’

“It’s our port box.” Lavender told him. “They set up the system shortly after they founded the reserve. You and Charlie Apparated to the boundary points, but those aren’t near any roosts.  Apparating startles the Kind, and flying a broom is not the smartest thing to do around here, so they put this together. There’s a box at every roost. We step in, close the door, say the dragon’s name, and step out at the roost. Brilliant.” She opened the door to a room perhaps ten feet on a side. Seamus stepped in after her and she closed the door. “Horatius!” she said loudly, and then stroked her hand down the side of Seamus’ face. “Okay, Shay. Open the door.”

It was the side of a mountain. That was what Seamus saw as he opened the door. He stepped out, looked around, and asked, “Where is he?” 

Lavender closed her eyes and for a few moments. “Over there,” she said pointing into a craggy tree filled dale. She smiled, “I’ve learned a few trick since last time you were here.” She closed her eyes again. _Horatius, my friend, Seamus is here._  She thought at the dragon and felt him understand. “He’s coming, Shay. Don’t be nervous, he’s looking forward to meeting you too.”

“How do you know?” Seamus asked, genuinely interested.

“It’s very hard to explain,” Lavender said. “I’ve tried with The Friends. This is the best I can do.” She looked into his eyes. “Like I told you before, feel them. It’s a bit of like they’re a part of me held at a distance. I think they feel me the same way. The closer we are, the better it works, and when we’re touching it’s at its most powerful. They understand a few words, but mostly we communicate in images. They show me things, things they want or want me to do, things they think are funny.” She laughed. “They are hilarious. Oh my god shay, Portia! She is so funny!” and she laughed again. “Just now I sent to Horatius words and feelings; Sort of a message wrapped in love.”

“That so?”

She kissed him. “Yes.” And she kissed him again. They fell into a snogging session. It happened frequently now, and Seamus was overjoyed at that. He had waited a long time, and would have patiently waited another hundred years for her, but he was ecstatic and relieved that he didn’t have to.  They were so caught up in the moment that they never heard the stealthy approach of a ten and a half ton dragon. 

Horatius nudged Lavender and Seamus with his snout.

“JESUS!” Seamus shouted, and jumped back. 

A sound like the Hogwarts Express leaving the station issued from the dragons throat, and Lavender laughed along with the Horatius. “Yes, that was very amusing, Horatius,” she said sarcastically, and then addressed Seamus who was still shaking a little. “Told you they were witty.”

Seamus was still getting used to the idea that the enormous animal wasn’t intent on eating him. But his fear was rapidly turning to awe as he took his first close look at the Ironbelly before him. Horatius had faded from silver to an almost milk white color during his long imprisonment, But that had brought out a quality in his scales that no one knew about. Prismatic crystalline structures inside his scales caused small spectral rainbows to appear and disappear all over his body as he moved. He was astounding to behold.

“Yes, he’s beautiful, isn’t he,” Lavender said from his side. She looked at Horatius. “My dear friend, this is my love.” She took Seamus’ hand and in her left and laid her right on the dragon’s snout.

Seamus was unprepared. It was similar to the Legilimency charm, less verbose to be sure, but deeper, more emotional, more visual, and a little more powerful. He felt Lavender and her love, He felt Horatius and his love for Lavender, and he felt them feel him. “Is that what it’s like for you?” he asked, awed. 

“No that is about one quarter of the depth I have with them.” Lavender drew a deep calming breath. “I did that with Parv last week, and I wanted to try it with you before I show it to the Friends, but this, this is what I really want to try. This is what I feel.”

 

The world vanished and he was bombarded with memories and images. _Let me focus for you_ , he felt from Lavender, and a memory solidified in his mind. It was from Horatius, far in the past. A woman stood before them, dressed in simple robes, her hair held by braids, and her feet in sandals. _That was Miriam, one of the first Arouks. She was Arouk for a long time, seventy years at least._

 _What’s Arouk?_ Seamus thought.

What he felt from Horatius in answer nearly took him off his feet. Emotions and images poured through him. Miriam rode Horatius, both of them enveloped in a swirling bubble of love and joy, Horatius awakening to find Mariam happily humming to herself as she made her breakfast at the hearth in their liar. The two of them were facing an angry mob of people, and an aged Miriam used her staff as a wand casting the _Bombarda,_ and lastly Horatius showed him Miriam in the throes of the change to her werewolf form.

 _The Arouk must be a female, a werewolf, and a sensitive. We are rare, and then they have to encounter us. Horatius has had only six of us, and Asgre four, including me, Lavender_ sent to him.

Horatius’ thoughts enveloped him again, and more images formed in his mind, a dark haired woman in furs, a long unbroken snowscape at the mouth of their cave, an Asian woman dressed in a simple wrap emerging from her hut in the jungle, A tall blond woman standing at the crest of a hill, her hair flying free in the wind, Miriam again, smiling at him, A heavy woman with a pronounced brow dropped a deer at his feet, a woman with fiery red hair casting spells at an oncoming hoard of goblins, and then falling with several pikes in her chest and stomach, and finally Lavender. 

_I am Asgre’s, but she shares me with all of them. Let’s pull back now._

 

Lavender lifted her hand from Horatius and dropped Seamus’ as he staggered and sat on a nearby rock. “Merlin’s hairy balls!” he exclaimed in a huff.” That was amazing, Lav.” His expression changed from one of awe to anger “When did the goblins take him?”

 “Around nine forty AD as best as I can tell,” Lavender replied flatly.

Seamus was horrified. “They kept him down that fucking shit hole for a thousand years?” he asked, incensed.

Lavender nodded.

“That’s going to make trips to Gringotts a bit troubling for me,” he told Lavender through gritted teeth. He shook his head and smiled. “So, Arouk is it? Title come with any benefits?” he looked at Lavender leaning on Horatius’ leg. “Besides the obvious.”

“I think being able to completely trust each other, to _know_ each other is reward enough,” Lavender said as she walked to Seamus.

He kissed her. “Amazing, thanks, Lav, I’ve never…” he shook his head and grinned.  “Can I try something?”

“Sure,” she said puzzled.

Seamus walked to Horatius’ head, and he laid his hand against the dragon’s cheek. He stuck his other hand in his pocket, grasped his wand, and silently did the _Legilimency_ charm. Lavender watched as they both closed their eyes in concentration. Then the dragon jerked and opened his eyes, at the same time Seamus smiled and turned to Lavender. The dragon nudged him in the back making him walk forward a few feet.

“Not anything like what you can do, but it appears I can at least ask a question,” Seamus said smiling.

“What question?” Lavender asked.

Seamus was smiling harder than he thought possible. “Have a seat, got to tell you a little story.”

Lavender smiled back at him. “Okay, Shay,” she said as she sat on a log.

“You remember what I said in that unused classroom a few days before the battle?” he asked her quietly, in a voice filled with love.

She smiled at the memory. They had made love there. It was the last time before her mauling. Her voice was soft. “You said a lot of things, Shay, how beautiful I was, how much you loved me, how much you hated Voldemort, What a fat cow you thought Alecto Carrow was, how you wanted to get… mar…” her eyes grew very wide. “Shay?”

“I ran into Anthony day before yesterday, well not really ran into. I was in the shop getting it cleaned you see. Well, we started talking weddings, and he was telling me about Parvati wanting to take you dress shopping for your maid of honor costume next week. I thought you should be just as happy as she is, I thought you might want some leverage over the style of the dress,” –He winked at her- “and I’ve waited as long as I intend to, so I brought it here with me. I was thinking you might want to wear it from now on, seeing as how I’ve had it since before we had that classroom conversation.”

He pulled a ring with a brilliant diamond set into it from his pocket. “Lavender, I’d  thought to ask in a nice comfortable restaurant I know, with you in a beautiful dress, but I can’t think of a better place and time than right her, and right now.” He knelt and placed the ring on her finger. “Lavender Brown, will you marry me?”

She couldn’t speak, but the nod of her head, the rush of her tears, and the kiss told him everything.

 

(######)

 

It was nothing like he imagined. Seamus had ridden horses, his Muggle uncle raised them, and he knew the power of a large animal, but the stunning, immense muscular power that Horatius had made everything else insignificant. Horatius had insisted they go for a celebratory ride, and Lavender had happily drug Seamus up the dragon’s leg. They sat with Lavender in front and Seamus wrapped around her. She was melding them again, in the shallower way, so that Seamus could feel the elation of the dragon. He felt the dragon instruct them to hang on tighter, and Seamus grasped the dorsal plates of his neck, hugging Lavender to him. The world spun around them as Horatius spiraled into the sky. They passed through a cloud layer and then another, bursting into the bright unfiltered sun above the scattered clouds over western Wales. Then the sense of weightlessness and they were diving towards the field again. 

 

(######)

 

It took less than five seconds for Adriana to notice the ring as Seamus and Lavender reentered the great hall. Being one with a flair for the dramatic she couldn’t help herself.  “Dragon Friends! “she called out as she stood on a table. “The Arouk has chosen a mate!”

The party lasted hours. Seamus, planning ahead, only accepted four of the proffered firewhiskys, and he made sure Lavender didn’t over indulge. He had activities on his agenda, and he was sure she did too. They were toasted, they were fed, and the Dragon Friends were quite pleased that their newest had accepted the proposal of her one true love. They would not be the only married couple at the reserve. David Lane, their accountant and face to the ministry, was married to Laura, a potion maker. They lived at the reserve and she apparated to Diagon Alley in London three days a week and Molead Avenue in Edinburgh for two days. Shelly, Charlie’s partner, lived off the reserve with her husband and children in the little town of Cwmllynfell nearby. By the time Darryl, one of the keepers specializing in the Horntails, had discreetly led them out of the hall to the cottage path, the rest of the Dragon Friends were in fine form. They would throw a party at the drop of a hat, or engagement, it seemed.

The sound of the singing and dancing revelers faded as Seamus followed Lavender up the path behind the common hall. The stockade blocked off the small valley in the side of one of the mountains bordering the reserve. Its steep sides and short length made it uncomfortable for the dragons as they had difficulty taking flight in its small confines. They could enter the compound if they wished, and some had, but they tended to forego the Friends valley for their own.                Small cottages were scattered along the quarter mile long trail. Some of the Friends shared a cottage, some did not. The decision was up to them. Lavender had one to herself.

She pulled Seamus through the door and sealed it behind them. “I hate when you’re gone so long, Shay,” she said between kisses as she took his cloak and hung it on a peg by the door. “It makes it hard to catch up on all the lovemaking we missed.” They stumbled to the couch in her sitting room as clothes fell willy-nilly around the room. Seamus’ shirt was a victim as Lavender tore it from him. “Sorry,” she said breathlessly, and then attacked his chest with her lips. “Full moon tomorrow, and I…”

“’S okay,” he said. “I’ve been paying atten…on god.” Lavender had slid her hand down his now undone trousers. Seamus cupped her left breast through her shirt and groaned, “Got to get this off you.” He carefully, as if he was opening a gift, undid each button. He kissed her lips, then her neck, between her breasts as he unsnapped the front clasp of her bra, and then he pushed back her shirt and bra at the same time so that they slid from her arms to pool on the floor behind her. 

Their shoes and socks had been kicked off between the door and the couch, so Seamus lowered her gently to the cushions while he kissed her, and then he divested her of her leather keeper’s trousers and her knickers with one motion. She did nearly the same thing to him a moment later. From her seat on the couch she smiled up at him, and then she took him, curling her tongue over and around him while lightly running her fingers through the fine red hair of his bollox. At his moan of wonder she laughed and pulled from him with a kiss. “The Kind aren’t the only thing I’ve been revising on,” she said and took him again.

He looked down and committed the image to memory. Her ring glittered on her finger as she held him, her lips rhythmically bumping her index finger and thumb. Her tongue did a little dance around him, and he moaned again, saying, “Oh, Lav, that’s… mmm, so fine.” He let her continue for another few minutes, and then pulled her up from the couch into an intense kiss. Cradling her in his arms the same way he had when he carried her to his hammock in the room of requirement almost six years earlier, he walked to the bedroom of the cottage. 

“You’re a randy one these days before the full moon,” he said with a laugh as he laid her on the duvet.

“I can tell that’s going to be a problem,” she said grinning. “What ever shall we do about it?”

“Got a few ideas,” he said while kissing his way down her belly. His fingers slid over her and she pushed herself against them. “So hot,” he breathed. Her blonde curls tickled his nose, and then she gasped as he spelled her name with his tongue. He would do this for hours if she wanted; reaching up her body, stroking her, bringing nipples to hardened points with his gentle kneading and occasional soft pinch, and all the while using his tongue and lips on her most sensitive spot. She tensed and shuddered, and Seamus felt a warm flood on his cheeks. That was his cue to be more aggressive. Harder, faster, firmer, those were his mantras as her brought her quickly back to the edge. He felt her breath hitch, and he sucked hard while swirling his tongue. Her scream of pleasure vibrated his eardrums, and she almost tore out a chunk of his hair. 

Seamus wiped his face on the duvet and kissed his way up her body. “Do you want me?” he asked.

“Yes, now, Shay,” she pleaded.

He rubbed himself at her entrance. “Now?”

“Gods yes, Shay, please,” she said and pushed herself against him. He entered just a little.

“Always?”

“Always.”

He joined with her fully, and she cried out as she clutched at him inside and out. As her orgasm faded he began to move, slowly, relishing the moment. Seamus had fucked a lot, but this, this thing that he and Lavender did? She was right. This was making love. This was what it was supposed to be; loving, caring, wanting naught but pleasure for her. That he was being swept along with her was just an added bonus. He craved nothing more than to play her like a maestro at his instrument, and he had had enough practice to be fairly good at it. He was still learning her, her likes, what not to do, and most importantly what made her make the sounds that he loved to hear. Inarticulate moans and whimpers, the occasional “yes”, the occasional “fuck”, and the rhythmic squeak she was making now that meant it was approaching. He had barely touched her with his moistened thumb when she came apart beneath him, and he almost immediately followed her. 

They lay in each other’s arms for a long time before Seamus finally spoke. “That was one for the books, it was.” He stroked the side of her face. “Lavender Finnigan, I really like the sound of that. Have for a long time.”

A tear tracked down her cheek. “Been practicing my signature for six years,” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” he said.

“You, my brave hero, have nothing to be sorry for,” she told him as she hugged him. “It was all me. I’m the one that’s sorry.’

“No, Lav,” he said softly. “I’ve been thinking, I have. You weren’t the only one hurt by the war. If we’d have been together just after I’m not certain we’d still be together now. I was broken.” He shook his head. “Really broken. If I hadn’t joined the Aurors, If I didn’t have you to care for and need me, If I hadn’t had the time to find myself and remember who I am. I don’t think we’d ‘ve made it this far.”

Lavender looked at him with boundless love and admiration in her eyes. 

“We both had to heal. You from an obvious wound, me from the ones inside.” He had never before spoken of that night to anyone, not even the ministry healer they assigned to make him talk about it. “When that evil fuck… when he took Colin from us…”

“It’s okay, Shay,” she said. “you don’t…”

“No, I do,” he said. “I need to say it; I think you need to hear it.”

Lavender watched him prepare. He looked at her; he looked at the ceiling, and then took several stuttering breaths.

“I knew, I knew what I was doing every fucking second,” he said through his teeth. “Neville and Harry? They like to pretend, but Ron and I know. We know we can be just a wicked as they can.” He looked in her eyes, willing her to understand. “I see it all the time, when I lay down to sleep, if you’re not there. I see it, I see them, I see Colin, I see it all, and I see you. After I found out Lestrange blew up the stairs, and Greyback, and the mad dash to see you the great hall, I hunted that evil bag o’ shit down. Found him out behind the castle, I did.” He looked in her eyes. “Lestrange suffered more than that other arsehole, I made sure of it, and I don’t regret a goddamn moment of it!” He was trembling.

Lavender lovingly traced the old scar on his cheek, a reminder from Alecto Carrow. She didn’t talk about that night either, it was hard, but with Seamus she knew she could say anything. Her voice was low, calm and flat. “I killed thirty seven.”

“What?” he said amazed.

“I killed thirty seven people, Shay.” She cupped his cheek. “And just like you, I’d do it again.”

Seamus looked stunned and a little pleased. “We all thought Anthony was the champ with nineteen!” His lips moved toward a smile. “Well, we’re a pair to draw to then, aren’t we?”

She nodded and smiled grimly. “Be a big fucking mistake to take on the Finnigans.”

He truly smiled at her calling them by his name. “Aye, that it would.” He kissed her. “We both had to heal, Lav. It’s strange,” he said looking up at wood slats of the ceiling. “It’s like time stopped that night, and everything after was a dream. Sometimes it were a nightmare, lately though…” he hugged her to his side.

“Yeah, I understand that,” she said. “There are times I feel like I just woke up a few months ago. Before… before I was just going through the motions. When you weren’t there, I was just a shell. The only time I felt alive was when you came. But then you would have to go, and I’d be alone again.”

“You had Walter and Emilia.”

“And they were a godsend, after my parents and…” she said and sniffed. “But it was you that kept me going.”

His hand trembled as he stroked her face. “I should have spent more time with you, I…”

“Then I really would have driven you away, Shay.” She looked at him with love and kindness shining in her eyes. “It was good that you didn’t have the time at first like Parv had. I almost did drive her away, but she has that Gryffindor stubborn thing.” Lavender smiled and chuckled. “Worse than Hermione.” She became serious again. “The first two years were very hard, finding out Riddle had killed my parents and sisters, learning to deal with Lycanthropy, finding out just how awful people can be to people like me, I’m glad you missed most of that. I’ve learned how to manage it. Without the potion I get the full effect, good and bad, and I’ve made peace with that. I had to learn, I had to cry, I had to watch you living without me to know what I really wanted, and I needed Katie Bell to kick my arse.”

“Aye, she’s a good friend, one of the best really,” he said.

“Sorry I took you away from her.”

Seamus snorted a laugh. “No you’re not, and besides you didn’t ‘take me away’, she knows that,” he said. “Saw her and Pansy a few weeks ago, I did. It was at the inquest into Katie and me handling of those fuckwits that kidnapped Pansy.” He smiled and held up her hand, gazing at the ring. “They both were badgering me to do this.” He looked in her eyes. “They didn’t know I had already worked that out. ’Course I had planned on taking you into Holyhead and having a nice dinner at The South Stack. Kath’s the owner and a good friend, you see; I already talked to her about how rare you like your meat these days.”

“Sounds wonderful,” She laughed lightly. “The next three nights I’m back in Ipswich, but we could go Friday?”

He kissed her hand. “It’s a date,” he said, and then his other hand found her. She gasped. “Ready to go again, I see,” he said with a smile.

 

 


	9. The Wizengamot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lavender Brown and the battle of Hogwarts

All’s Fair

The Wizengamot

Seamus stood next to Minister Shacklebolt, Harry, and Ron as they watched the hall fill with people. The Minister looked to his side at Ron with an amused smile. “I can’t get half of these people to show up for a session, your wife offhandedly mentions that a member of Dumbledore’s Army is testifying about the night of the battle, and you can’t buy a chair on the floor.” He chuckled and looked into the gallery. “And then she sends a note to the rest of you, and every single living member Dumbledore’s Army arrives early to sit in the gallery.” He shook his head. “What’s she up to, Weasley?”

“Fixing a problem, sir,” Ron replied dryly.

“I’m going to enjoy this, aren’t I?” the Minister asked him.

Ron looked at him seriously. “Probably not until the end, sir.”

 

(######)

“Witches and Wizards of the Wizengamot,” Hermione’s voice rang through the chamber. “Six years ago a group of students, children, waited for a war they knew was coming. They waited in a secret room in the castle of Hogwarts.” She looked at the expectant faces surrounding her. “My friend, Neville Longbottom, had assumed the leadership of Dumbledore’s Army by that time, as Harry Potter, my husband, and I were away from the school on our mission to defeat Tom Riddle. Neville, with the help of the more seasoned members of Dumbledore’s Army, planed the defense of the castle. Critical components of that defense were those seasoned members. Each had valuable skills, each gave their all in the battle, and two gave their lives. One of those original members of the D.A., my dear friend Lavender Brown, came closer than the rest of us to making it three.”

“Lavender and I were in the same year, the same house, the same dorm. I grew to know her and she grew to know me. We had some challenges in our friendship, mostly concerning my then future husband.” A chuckle went through the crowd. Many books had been written about Harry’s exploits, and Hermione, Ron, and Lavender had made it into a few of them. “But we overcame that, and during the Battle of Hogwarts my friend, Lavender, proved why Neville placed her in the thick of the fighting.”

Hermione stepped out from behind the lectern and paced across the parquet of the floor. “You have read some accounts of the battle, but those of us most involved have remained silent. The reasons are many, but primarily it’s because we don’t want to relive that night. It wasn’t glorious and accompanied by dramatic music, as Halter would have you believe. It wasn’t a snog fest interrupted by fighting, as Skeeter wrote. It was horrible, start to finish, with an occasional moment of brightness.” Hermione looked around the room. Of the one hundred and fifty sat in the chairs of the Wizengamot twelve had been there that night. Their stern faces nodded at her.

She paced back to the lectern. “Every student that stayed that night is a hero, every one. Each deserved the Order of Merlin that they received, but my friend, Lavender, needs something besides her Order of Merlin first class medal, she deserves more than that.” Hermione looked out at her rapt audience. “Lavender was very badly hurt, and it has taken years for her to recover. I bring her before you today because you need to hear her story from her. Because you need to know how we treat our heroes, our children, who sacrificed so much so that we could be free. You need to know how an injury can rob a person of their future for no reason, and how our society can be cruel and heartless.”

She had them; they were completely silent, hanging on her words.

“When Harry, my husband, and I arrived at Hogwarts in the late evening of the first of May, Lavender was already there. She had been there since the beginning of the year, though she could have not gone, as it was her NEWT year. Lavender did go to Hogwarts that year, however, and she was one of the first to be exiled to the Room of Requirement for subversion. Unknown to her until after the war, her parents and sisters were killed in retribution.” Hermione let them think on that for a moment.

 “There in the Room of Requirement she helped Neville, my sister in law, Ginevra Potter, my good friend, the naturalist and author Luna Lovegood, and Lavender’s fiancé, the Auror Seamus Finnigan, shape the defense of Hogwarts. As the room filled with more and more ‘Undesirables’,” Hermione said, smiling grimly. “Lavender became the house mother, organizing sleep and bathing schedules, meals, training, and for very good reasons she was made wand work instructor.” Hermione looked around at the Wizengamot, and then up into the visitor’s galley. _Here we go, Lav._ “If you were a student who fought, would you stand please.” Around seventy people stood, mostly in the gallery. “These have given their all. I see some that sacrificed a brother or sister to see us free, and we mourn that loss with you. I see some that have sacrificed a part of themselves, but I see none that would tolerate a fellow soldier, for soldiers we are, mistreated.” Hermione swept the room with her eyes. “We get asked, all the time, what happened?” She looked up at the young faces in the gallery. “Don’t we?”

Heads nodded and there were murmurs of, “yes.”

“Yes,” Hermione said. “And do we tell them what really happened? What we saw? What we did?”

More murmurs. “No”

“No, we don’t,” she nearly spat. “Because it’s too personal, too raw, and in many cases too horrible to be believed, but it was real.” Hermione turned and nodded at Seamus and turned back to the Wizengamot. “Take carful notes, store this memory in the pensive, do what you have to do to preserve the next half hour, because this is the one and only time you will hear one of us tell you the real story.” Hermione stepped from the podium to the center of the room. “Good people, I give you my friend, Lavender Brown.”

 

(######)

 

As she stood behind the door to the Wizengamot’s chamber, Lavender heard every word Hermione said. She remembered the days of boredom, the nights in Seamus’ arms, teaching the youngest how to duel with ruthlessness and cunning, stealing food from the kitchens until Kreacher and Dilly had started providing it, and prowling through the castle finding ways to annoy their enemies. Neville had grown to love Sun Tzu, and The Art of War sat beside his hammock every night open to a different page. Hermione had obviously read it too, because she had set the room up perfectly for her. Seamus opened the door, and Lavender stepped through.

”Aire!” Seamus called at the top of his voice.

There was a loud slap as the entirety of Dumbledore’s Army snapped to attention. 

Everyone that wasn’t already standing leapt to their feet. The applause echoed loudly off the hard walls of the chamber, and they didn’t stop until Lavender had ascended to the podium and held up her hand. “Thank you,” she said softly, and her audience sat. “My name is Lavender Brown, and I am a member of Dumbledore’s Army. My friend, Mrs. Weasley, asked me to come today to tell you my story. Coming of age in a dormitory with Hermione was a challenging,” Lavender said with a smirk, and a small titter ran through the room. “But what we all learned from her was to never tolerate unfair treatment. You have heard her speak about the elves, now she has taken on another just cause.”

Everyone in the chamber waited for her to continue. _Just tell them, don’t live it, just tell them,_ Seamus’ voice said in her memory. She took a deep breath and began. “When Harry returned from his expedition to the Ravenclaw common room and told us we were going to fight I immediately reported to Neville. He, Minister Shacklebolt, Professor Lupin, and Mr. Arthur Weasley assigned us to our stations according to the plan Neville had been working on all year.  My friend, Parvati Patil, and I were assigned the entry hall and grounds to the east. We ran to our position just inside the doors and took up sniping from the arrow loops. At the beginning of the first charge Parvati spoiled an attack by several death eaters using a tripping jinx, and then I body bound them.” She drew a steadying breath. “That was the last non-lethal curse I used that night.” In the gallery the younger heads nodded. “When the next group of Death Eaters made the steps by using the killing curse and other deadly spells as cover, they canceled the body binds on their fellows, but while they were distracted by that task I _Incendioed_ ten of them to ash.”

A murmur of astonishment sounded quietly in the hall.

Lavender looked up at the gallery and met her best friend’s eyes. “Parvati cut the remaining seven in half with a _Sectumsempra,”_ Lavender continued. “A group that was approaching the doors gave it up as a bad plan and started casting _Bombarda_ , _Reducto,_ and other cursesat us from behind the walkway plinths. Neville had pointed out to us that the railings along the masonry of the walkway are copper, so I cast _Electrium_ on the railing. The lightening curse killed another six, but a few moments later they succeeded in blasting the doors from their hinges; they flew as one all the way across the hall, killing Professor Vector, Jason Eastman, and Melony Caldecott.”

In the gallery Neville Longbottom rose to his feet, and then Hanna stood by his side. Ernie Macmillan, Parvati, Padma, and Dennis Creevey rose from their chairs. There was a shuffling sound and Lavender looked up into the gallery. Every student soldier was standing again to honor the fallen, Seamus and Ron stood by the doors, Hermione stood next to her chair, and Harry stood in front of his chair next to the minister.

 “Twenty or so stormed into the entryway. Parvati, the few students that remained in the hall, and I killed them all.”

Silence.

“The first one I encountered attempted the fire curse on me. I erected a shield, and then I used _Leviosa_ on him and smashed his skull in against the bottom of one of the stairs. Two more attacked and used the Avada Kedavera. Luckily I have studied gymnastics and was able to dodge the curses. In the moment it takes to recover from casting the killing curse I seized the advantage. I used _Defodio_ on their legs. I took one set off at the shins and another at the thighs, and then I took each of their heads off with _Reducto._ When I looked up another death eater had his wand on me, and had managed to get _Avada_ said before Marry Ellen Greenwood used a spell series that ended in _Reducto_ and killed him. It was then that I realized Mary Ellen Greenwood, and Adam Cross had stayed behind. I ordered them to the back of the hall and continued fighting.” 

In the gallery Lavender heard a stuttering sniff.

“Three challenged me. After shielding myself from their first volley I tripped them by diving at them and rolling into their ankles. As they struggled to stay upright I _Reductoed_ the first one under the chin and the second and third I _Sectumsempraed_ in half. From the floor I saw a Death Eater about to kill Jack Thorp.” Lavender looked up at the gallery and into Jack Thorp’s remaining eye. “I _Incendioed_ him up the bum”

Nobody laughed

“Parvati helped me to my feet, and we assumed our back to back fighting position. A Death Eater attempted to kill Adam Cross, and he very deftly deflected the curse and took the man’s left arm off. That same man spun and raised his wand to me, so I cast the melting curse on him. Two more, the last of the Death Eaters in the hall at that time, advanced on Parvati and I. Parvati deflected their curses and I cast _Lithos_ on them.

Hermione looked around at the front row. They were drop jawed in astonishment.

“There was a small lull in the fighting, enough for Parvati and I to regroup, and we then marshaled the remaining students into a firing line. With Incendio, Bombard, and Reducto we re-took the stairs and courtyard for a while. Then another group of Death Eaters, this time riding brooms, entered the court yard. The student line took them down, but not before the Death Eaters had killed Mary Ellen Greenwood, and Adam Cross. They were both underage Gryffindors, but they fought as bravely as any. Adam was a Muggleborn, and he and Mary Ellen were very much in love. He felt he had to stay, and she would not leave him.”

There was a sob from the Gallery.

 “Professor Lupin and Minister Shacklebolt appeared as we were falling back into the entry hall. A large Death Eater, I later found to be Antonin Dolohov, entered the court yard and began to duel professor Lupin. Minister Shacklebolt was dueling Rodalphus Lestrange when Bellatrix Lestrange appeared, and I began to duel her.” There was a murmur of wonder “Madam Lestrange attempted to kill me several times, however I was able to defend myself and forced her from the courtyard into the common area between the entry hall and Ravenclaw Tower.” Lavender drew a shaking breath. “Professor Lupin was next to me and had just congratulated me on a particularly good use of a series of spells when Rabastan Lestrange entered the fray. Professor Lupin was battling Dolohov when Rabastan Lestrange cast the Avada Kedavera at his back.”

Hermione looked around the chamber again. Tears were in some eyes, stern expressions were on every face, and it was absolutely still. She couldn’t even hear them breathing.

After a pause, Lavender continued. “Mrs. Lupin appeared, but she was so distressed by the death of her husband that she didn’t see Madam Lestrange. That evil bi…” Lavender gritted her teeth, paused, and then continued. “She laughed after she killed Mrs. Lupin. She even did a little dance.” Lavender’s face hardened, and in a near growl she said, “I went after her again.”

“Madam Lestrange may have been a skilled and merciless adversary; I’m a good deal faster than she was. She was backing away from me when her bother in law, Rodalphus, joined her, and that tipped the fight in their favor. We were next to the wall between the entry and Ravenclaw tower. The Lestranges were gaining on me, and I saw an opening. I did the shield charm, and then the swamp charm on the masonry supporting the wall. Seven more Death Eaters including Madam Lestrange’s husband charged me as I backed away shielding myself. They never saw the wall start to topple.” Lavender showed a slight smile. “It crushed all of them save for Madam Lestrange, her husband, and his brother. Through the dust I could see Rodalphus Lestrange’s foot was trapped by a large piece of the wall that was teetering over him. I cast _Bombarda_ and _Reducto_ in quick succession at Madam Lestrange and her husband, and then I tipped the wall section onto Rodalphus Lestrange. A large amount of blood sprayed from under the wall as it crushed him, and it spattered in my face. Then a larger cloud of dust rose obscuring my vision.

Lavender took a drink from the glass of water on the podium. “When the dust cleared the Lestranges had fled. It was then that I heard the cries of my friend Colin Creevey. I attempted to come to his aid but a group of Riddles supporters drove me back to the entry hall. Madam Lestrange and her husband were there. Two death eaters challenged me and I _Sectumsempraed_ then into pieces.” Lavender took another calming breath. “Madam Lestrange saw me and told her husband. He immediately charged. I was able to hold him off while I gained the stairs. The floor of the entry was completely covered in blood, and it was quite slippery. Some of the blood was still on my shoes as I ascended, and I was having trouble not falling.”

“Madam Lestrange and her husband were trying very hard to kill me. She sent the Avada Kedavera toward me just as some other Death Eaters emerged next to me from a secret passageway. Her curse killed two of them, and then her husband sent the killing curse at Neville. I levitated two of the Death Eaters into the path of the spell and _Incendioed_ the other two."

Most of the Wizengamot was staring at her in stunned shock. This beautiful blonde young woman, five foot six in her heels, twenty three years old, was the most lethal person they had ever been in the presence of.

  _Alright, Lav, bring it home._  Hermione thought.

Lavender looked up into the gallery and nodded to her friends, and then she looked at her intended audience, the Wizengamot. She straightened, and her bearing became almost regal. “Rabastan Lestrange collapsed the railing I was leaning on, Jack Ellington and I fell from three flights up to the floor of the hall. I was able to do _Aresto Momentum,_ and I saved Jack the worst of the fall.” She looked into the kind eyes of Jack Ellington.  “But I still broke more than a few bones when I hit the floor, and then the werewolf Fenrir Greyback attacked me.” Many pairs of eyes in the Wizengamot became very wide indeed. “We have determined that Riddle used a form of the aging charm on Greyback, allowing him to achieve full transformation to his werewolf form that evening. He clawed my side and my leg… and he bit me.”

The words hung in the air. Hermione though she could almost see them there, daring someone to speak. Lavender did.

“My name is Lavender Brown!” she said in a loud confidant voice. “I am a soldier! I am a member of Dumbledore’s Army! And I am a werewolf!”

Hermione was amazed any air was left in the room after the mass intake of breath. _No mercy, Lav. All’s fair. Take it to them._

“Hermione doesn’t understand why this makes me less than human, she doesn’t understand why you hate me, and she can’t reconcile her knowledge of me and the laws confining me to a life of poverty and isolation.” Lavender said calmly. She stepped from behind the podium and approached an older member of the Wizengamot. “Alex Jameson, you wrote the laws concerning werewolf employment; you fought for the law that isolates me from children, the laws that say I can be excluded from employment based on my condition. Please explain to Hermione why that is necessary, she needs to know why you view me as sub human.” The old man had the good sense to not even meet Lavender’s eyes. “No?” Lavender moved down the railing a few steps. “Well if you can’t, I’m confident Ellen Macintyre here can explain why I should be denied housing, why if a neighbor complains about me I must move.” She turned to the woman across the railing from her. “You wrote that law Mrs. Macintyre, and in your passionate speech for the law you said ‘a werewolf is an unfeeling creature that lives to maul, maim, and make more of its kind. The right thing would be to kill them all, but if we can’t do that we must exclude them from society as best we can. We must isolate them in housing and occupation so that society is protected from their foul kind.’ Hermione does not believe I am ‘a foul creature’, please, Mrs. Macintyre, explain to her why I am.”

Ellen Macintyre looked as if she would rather be anywhere other than the chair she was sat in.

“No?” Lavender asked again. She looked around at the Wizengamot. “Anyone?” she shook her head. “Well then I suppose it’s up to me. You see they believe it doesn’t matter that I was born human,” she said to the entire hall as she walked back to the podium. “It doesn’t matter what I did, who I saved, who I killed. None of that matters because I was bitten. I was made a monster, cursed, and because of that I am no longer equal, no longer human, and no longer deserving of rights.”

“BULLSHIT!!!” Ernie McMillian’s voice rang through the hall, and it erupted into chaos. Hermione calmly walked to the Minister’s chair while Lavender stood at the podium, an island of composure in the midst of the turmoil.

“MINISTER SHACKLEBOLT!” Hermione’s voice boomed “I present ministry bill two thousand four, double-U fourteen, titled ‘Full Restoration of Rights for Those Affected by Lycanthropy’. Shall I read the text?”

Quiet descended on the room again. The Ministers deep baritone filled the hall. “I doubt that it will be necessary, Mrs. Weasley.” He winked subtly to her and stood. “Witches and Wizards of the Wizengamot, a bill has been presented. All in favor?”

 

(######)

 

Seamus smiled from Lavender’s side. The party in the upper room of the Leaky Cauldron had formed the moment the entirety of Dumbledore’s Army had stormed through the doors. They had congratulated her on her courage, on her bearing, and on her and Hermione’s triumph. When the Minister had asked, not a single hand had been raised against. Seamus hugged her to his side.

“You were outstanding, my love,” he said, and kissed her.

“Get a room,” Parvati’s voice said from behind them.

Lavender turned to her best friend. “Got one in Wales.” She cupped Seamus’ cheek. “It’ll get used tonight,” she said with a smile.

Parvati hugged her friend. “You made us sound the ultimate badarses.”

“You are the ultimate badarses,” Anthony said with awe from Parvati’s side. “All this time everyone thought I had the highest total.” He smiled. “I’m happy to hand the title over to you two.” He turned to his fiancé. “Why did you never tell me?”

“It’s not something we’re proud of, Tony,” Lavender said. “It just is.”

“Yeah, I know,” he replied. “Never liked it myself, but you two earned it.” He took Lavender’s hand. “Everyone is going to say this differently, Lavender, but we all feel the same. I hope after today you really do know it doesn’t matter to any of us that you get a little furry three days a month. What you did today was a feat of courage that leaves me in awe of you, and I am very proud that you are my friend.”

“Thanks, Tony,” Lavender said, her eyes shining. “I’m glad you’re marrying my best friend, she deserves it.”

“I’m just happy Finnigan here got off his arse and asked you,” Parvati said, and then she grinned wickedly. “And that reminds me; let’s just get this out of the way now, shall we. LUNA!” she called.

Dean and Luna made their way to Parvati. “Yes, Parvati, what do you need?” Luna asked.

Parvati stood on a chair. “Hey everyone, listen up.” She grinned at her friend. “As you are _all_ aware we had a betting pool to relieve the boredom during the war year. At the last reunion of the D.A. girls we found out there was a winner.” A huge cheer went up. “Yes they were too sneaky for us by half. I’m her best friend and Dean is his, and in all these years they never told either one of us, so we had to wait, but now we know.” Parvati looked down. “Luna?”

“Hello all,” Luna called merrily as she stood on the chair Parvati had just stepped off. “Well, Many of you had days near, but Hannah Abbot had April 6. Congratulations Hannah!” Luna stepped down from the chair and presented Hannah with a small bag.” Eighty-three sickles.”

Lavender turned to her best friend and Hannah. “You…”

“Won,” said Hannah brightly.

Lavender rolled her eyes, and then she noticed a newcomer at the top of the stairs. Pansy Parkinson stood there in a deep green dress smiling at her. Parvati followed Lavenders surprised gaze and found her partner. Pansy saw Parvati’s wave, and the dark haired woman made her way through the crowd, gathering Hermione and Ron on the way.

Pansy walked directly up to Lavender, and the room became strangely quiet. She smirked at the attention. “That was the bravest thing it has ever been my privileged to witness, ” she said sincerely to Lavender, and then she turned to Hermione and smiled broadly and laughed a little. “And the most perfectly executed political snare in history.” She placed her hand on Lavender’s shoulder as she chortled. “I had trouble not laughing out loud there at the end. When you sprung the trap on those two arseholes? It was beautiful, perfection, I couldn’t have done it better myself.” She chuckled again.

Hermione took Pansy’s hand and smiled. “Coming from you that is real compliment, thanks Pan. “ 

“You have also been very brave, Pansy. I’ve witnessed it,” Luna said to Pansy from Dean’s side. “The night of the battle?  When you made the suggestion that we surrender Harry to Riddle? That was very brave. You could have been badly treated for that.”

The room fell still as they waited for Pansy’s answer. Some, like Luna, knew, but most had never really understood the friendship between Hermione, Parvati, Luna, and Pansy after the war. “Yeah,” she looked around the room and smiled at them. “I know you all wanted to kill me right then, but I had to get my idiot housemates out of the castle for you. They would have made an awful problem, and got themselves and some of you killed in the process. It was the only way at the time to do it effectively and quickly.”

“Yes, I understand that,” Luna said. “It was still very smart and very brave, Pansy.”

The Slytherin girl smiled at her brilliant Ravenclaw friend who had just cured a nagging problem for her. “Thanks, Luna,” she looked at Hermione and winked. “Coming from you, that’s a real compliment.” A chuckle ran through the group around them, heads nodded, and the party resumed.

Hannah asked, “Seriously, Pansy? That was your plan all along?”

“Abbot,” Pansy said smiling at her. ‘Did you really think I imagined you would turn over your ‘savior’,” she made the air quotes, and then shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Please.” She smirked. “Besides, the only true believers in the whole of the house were Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Bulstrode. The rest of us were just trying to keep our heads down and our families out of it.” Her smile fell. “Some of us were more successful at that that I was.”

Hannah placed her hand on Pansy’s shoulder in sympathy. “You have honored them, redeemed them, nobody can fault you for what you have done the last five years.”

“Well,” Pansy said with a smirk. “You can’t spent _all_ of your classes with Hermione and still believe that Purebloods are superior to Muggleborns in any way, not if you have a brain in your head, which, fortunately for my housemates, I have.” She looked back at Lavender. “I just wanted you to know that United Charities is here to help when you need us, and I think you will soon.” At Lavender’s puzzled look she continued. “There are a lot more people affected by Lycanthropy than you imagine. Not many of them are werewolves, but they are scared, marked, and that’s a problem for them as you know.”

Pansy looked at Lavender earnestly. “From the moment they read tomorrow’s Quibbler and Prophet you will be a symbol, Brown. A hero they can look to for inspiration and guidance. I don’t know if you and Hermione had thought that far ahead, but it occurred to me the moment she was getting the law passed. You will be deluged with requests.” Lavender looked horrorstruck, and Pansy smiled. “Just pass all of them to Parvati.”- Pansy looked at her partner, who nodded back at her-“We’ll take care of everything.”

_ A/N Aire _ : Attention


	10. The Reserve

All’s Fair

The Reserve

Pansy had been right. The second morning after the Quibbler and Prophet published Hermione and Lavender’s speeches, verbatim, the owls had begun. Seamus was more and more thankful for the isolation and peace of the reserve because deluge had been the correct word. The first day it was ten letters, the second it was fifty-five, and they just kept coming. Seamus had taken on the task of filtering Lavenders mail, and a file cabinet and a waste bin sat near their bed in their cottage. Letters of thanks and admiration went into a pile on Lavenders night stand for her to read in the evenings and then place lovingly in her file cabinet. A few of those letters found their way into a special folder for a personal response. Letters with requests for help went into a larger envelope to be sent to Parvati. Letters with a request for an autograph, something Lavender felt very strange about, went into another pile to be sorted on the weekends, and hate mail went in the bin, though the hate mail bin usually sat empty after the first two weeks. 

As the owls arrived on that first morning, Seamus took them and read them before Lavender could. He knew, and he felt Lavender knew also, that many people would be less than thrilled by the dramatic turn of events in the Wizengamot’s chamber. He was right. About one in twenty had something horrible to say, and he was very glad that he had decided to be the wall between her and the world. The urge to Apparate to the return address that only the brave or foolish left on their hate mail, or even use his Auror skills to find cowards who didn’t, was at times overwhelming. Then he devised a plan and ran it past Pansy. She had cackled with righteous glee. 

Seamus took the hostile letters to Luna, who then published them in the Quibbler, with names… and addresses.

~*~

“You alright, love?” Seamus asked her from his side of the bed. 

She sniffed. “A tough letter, this one.” She showed him the parchment with the childish scrawls. “He’s so young.”

“Aye, but you changed his life,” he said. “Before, he wasn’t able to go to school, had no friends, now he has a life. It won’t be easy, but he has a future he didn’t have a month ago.” He ran his hand down her face. “All because of you.”

“You had more than a bit to do with it,” she said, and traced his chin with her finger before kissing him.

Seamus was as happy as he had ever been in his life. It wasn’t a parade of unbroken joy, he still occasionally had to face unpleasant realities as an Auror, but life at the reserve with Lavender made everything else worthwhile. Moving out of the flat he shared with Dean was an emotional experience that he had not anticipated, but the reward was more than worth it. Lavender was his at last, and she was determined to make their relationship as solid as it could be. One way of doing that was to make certain Seamus never felt unloved, emotionally and physically.

Lavender had set a task for herself, to be the best lover Seamus had ever had. It was a tall order, she knew, but she found that she had an unlikely mentor. Hermione had set the same task for herself when she and Ron had come together in the weeks following the war. As their friendship grew Hermione had lent Lavender several books that she had found very helpful, and then there were the conversations.

“You do what?” Lavender said with wide eyes and a shocked expression.

“I know it sounds uncomfortable,” Hermione said, and blushed. She was still Hermione after all. “And it is at first, but after you get used to it, well, it’s not something we do all the time, but when we do…” an incongruous look of lust passed over her face.

Lavender composed herself. The image in her mind would not square with her knowledge of Hermione… and Ron. “Um, I don’t know how to say this but I, uh, am aware of Ron’s size.” At Hermione’s raised eyebrow she smiled. “Not from personal experience, but Pansy has this box…”

Hermione laughed, “Ah, yes, Pansy’s box.” She closed her eyes and shook her head as she laughed. “I’ve heard tales.”

Lavender smirked. “Yes, well, it’s real, and I had a certain curiosity.”

She was still laughing. “So what’s the question?”

“Um, well,” Lavender stammered. “ _How does it fit?”_ she whispered. 

Hermione nodded. “There are some stretching exercises and tools, plus you always have to do the _lubris_ charm,” she said.

“And you like it… that way?”

Hermione’s smile told her everything. 

~*~

Lavender smirked. The haze of several orgasms and the lust she felt as she rolled her tongue around Seamus was making her think tonight was THE night. She pulled from him.  “Want to try something new, Shay?” She chuckled. “Well, new to me.”

Seamus raised an eyebrow. She’d asked this question three times and every one had been an extremely pleasant surprise. Lavender had confided in Seamus that Hermione had given her a few “tips” as she called them. The first was “in public”, so the roof of the Houses of Parliament had been a startling and glorious outing. He remembered. She rode him with firm muscles honed by numerous rides on the Kind as he lay on the ridge of the roof. Parliament was in session ninety feet below them as they laughingly made love in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday.

Number two had been a red leather outfit, bikini style, with gloves and spike heeled boots. The whip of velvet and twine had just the right amount of bite, and the grin on her face as she stepped from loo of their cottage into the bedroom would be forever preserved in his memory.

 “This is Hermione’s?’ he had asked in wonder, sliding his hand along the top strap. 

“Um hum,” Lavender had answered. “I just had to charm the top a bit to enlarge it; otherwise we’re the same size.”

“You know this is going to make talking with Ron a bit delicate. I’d never imagined Hermione was so, so…”

“Imaginative? Liberated?” Lavender clawed him lightly over his left breast. “Wicked?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Well, she is.” Lavender had nipped his earlobe then continued. “And so am I.”

The third, well the third was all Lavender’s idea; Hermione had only helped with execution. Getting into Hogwarts had been the easy part. Getting into Gryffindor tower required talking the Fat Lady into it, but once Lavender had explained why they were there, she let them pass with a wicked smile of her own. Hanging by his foot in midair as she ascended the girl’s stairs was uncomfortable. Making love to her in her old dorm bed was amazing.

Seamus smiled at her as she crawled up his body. “Alright, what you got in mind?”

Lavender took her wand from the night stand and cast the _Lubris_ charm on him. She’d been practicing with a little knobbed wooden rod Hermione had lent her to get used to the idea, and was not as trepidatious as she thought she would be. She straddled Seamus and very slowly guided him into her second entrance.

Seamus’s eyes were open wide in wonder and amazement. “Lav?”

“Shsh,” She panted as she took him gradually, a small bit at a time until she was seated on him. She rocked once and shuddered. 

“Oh, Christ , Lav,” he said. “Oh Jesus, go slow or this’ll be over very quick.”

Lavender chuckled and his eyes went wide again. “Oh heaven help me,” he said breathlessly.

“Your angel’s right here, Shay,” she said, biting her lower lip as she slowly rocked. “Mmmm. And she’s not going anywhere.”

It was a sultry clear night in late June. Asgre lounged on the sward in front of her lair a mile from the keeper’s compound, watching the stars. The Arouk and her mate were breeding again, she could feel it. She sensed the Arouk peak massively, and the great green dragon laughed.

~*~

“G’morning, Shay!” Ron said as Seamus entered the Auror office. “Good weekend?”

Seamus blushed mightily, and Ron laughed. “Fuck you, Weasley,” Seamus said, which only made Ron laugh louder. “You’re aware I know a good deal about you now.” Seamus told him unsympathetically. 

Ron smiled broadly. “Same here. Hermione talks with me too you know.” He stood and walked across the empty office room, then put his hand on Seamus’ shoulder. “Really, Shay, I have to take the mick a bit. Can’t do it with Harry ‘cause, well, Ginny. He can’t do it with me ‘cause he’s terrified of Hermione, so you’re it mate.”

“Spectacular,” Seamus said drolly, and Ron laughed again.

“It’s working out well then?” Ron asked as he sat on the desk next to him.

Seamus smiled at his friend. “Better than I had ever hoped, Ron.” His smile turned sly. “Tell your wife ‘thanks for the loan of the red outfit’.”

Ron was only momentarily shaken, and then he smiled wryly. “Liked that one did you?  Me too.  I’ll have her loan Lav the black one next”- rubbed his chin-“or maybe the blue one.” He nudged Seamus with his elbow. “And tell Lav thanks for the dorm room idea.”

Horatius flew over them and landed a few hundred feet away. Lavender looked to her side at the frightened faces of her friends and laughed. “Don’t even be a tiny bit nervous, he’s been wanting to thank you since the day after.” Ron’s expression of disbelief made her laugh again. Horatius folded his wings and nearly ran to Lavender and her friends. Lavender took a few steps forward and the giant white dragon stopped in front of her. She looked back and waved Harry, Ron, and Hermione forward, and then she turned to the dragon and laid her hand on his snout. “Horatius, these are my friends and your rescuers, Harry”- she took his hand and he gasped-“Hermione” she nodded for Hermione to take Harry’s hand-“and Ron.” Ron took his wife’s hand.

Tears flowed down their faces at the emotions the dragon felt to them. He showed them the long years of imprisonment, he let them feel his hopelessness, his desire for the goblins to finally kill him, and his jubilation at their escape. He knew they were there on his back, but he had no desire ever to kill his liberators. His only desire now was to thank them.

Then Lavender let Horatius feel Hermione.

 Her fire, her passion, her unyielding sense of justice, Horatius felt all of it in a flood from the Arouk’s dark haired counterpart. He felt Hermione’s resolve solidify into a mission, and the Arouk’s friends felt his admiration and thanks.

~*~

“You're certain?” Seamus asked as they stood outside the stockade and watched the sun set behind the western mountain.

Lavender nodded to him. “Yes, Asgre has been showing me this for a while.” She turned to her green friend. “I was just a little frightened, Asgre.” The dragon stroked her lovingly with a whisker, and Lavender turned back to Seamus and Shelly who stood beside him. “Don’t let me get within ten feet of you, promise me.”

“We won’t let you hurt us,” Shelly said. “And I don’t really think you’ll want to.”

“Just promise me,” Lavender said again.

“We promise, love,” Seamus said.

Lavender nodded. She pulled off her ring and handed it to Seamus. “It’s time,” she said, and she kissed Seamus with a smile. “See you in the morning, my love.” She dropped her robes as she turned and started toward Asgre. The moon peeked over the eastern horizon as Lavender reached the large shadow in the gloom that was the dragon. Asgre curled herself around Lavender as she changed. Seamus and Shelly could hear Lavender’s growls of pain and confusion from the confines of the wall Asgre had built around Lavender with her tail and wings. They saw Asgre drop a tear and heard the contented growl of relief. The dragon uncoiled from Lavender, and she shook the remaining water from her fur. The wolf ran to the dragons head, licked her face, and began prancing around Asgre’s front legs.

“Look at that,” Shelly said in wonder. Asgre and Lavender were bounding around the common field, quiet obviously playing. “We learn something new from these two almost daily.” She looked on with Seamus in a kind of awe. “Had no idea this behavior even existed.”

“One of those Arouk things I suppose,” Seamus said. “Wow.” As he and Shelly looked on Asgre rolled on her back and Lavender ran up and down the dragon’s belly, licking Asgre’s face and then running and jumping on and off the dragon. All the while Asgre laughed. Finally Lavender leapt off Asgre and raced toward Seamus and Shelly. “I’ll slow her down a bit.” He cast _Impedimenta_ lightly on Lavender as she approached so that she wouldn’t run headlong into the shield Shelly had erected. When Lavender came up against the shield she plopped her front legs down on the grass in front of her, arched her hind quarters in the air, and barked at Seamus while vigorously waging her tail. Seamus laughed.

“I’ll join you next time, love,” he said and levitated her water through the shield. Lavender drank deeply, waged at Seamus, and ran back to Asgre. Seamus turned to Shelly. “Now?”

Shelly smiled and shrugged. “No time like the present I suppose,” she said. “Let him go!” she shouted.

A small door opened in the side of the stockade and a ram ran full speed from it. Lavender turned and pelted after it, and Asgre took flight. The wolf herded the ram around the field while Asgre dipped and dove. After a while it became obvious what was happening.

“Will you fucking look at that,” Shelly said as she gazed through her night vision omnioculars. “It’s symbiosis, that’s the only word for it.” She sighed in amazement. “They’re practicing. Look, Lavender herds the sheep and Asgre dives on it. Asgre pulls up and Lavender backs off if she gets to close. Fucking amazing.”

After a few dozen passes over the ram he was beginning to tier so Asgre took him. There was a snapping crunching sound, and then a large belch in the night. The dragon alit in the field a mile or so from the compound and dropped a leg from the ram on the ground. As Asgre curled up and lay on the grass Lavender drug the leg to her, dropped on her side against Asgre’s tail, and began to gnaw on her dinner.

~*~

Lavender awoke in the field, lying against Asgre. A blanket covered her, and Seamus sat in a chair a few yards away. He smiled wide. “Morning, me love,” he said brightly, stood, and walked up to her as she got to her feet. He wrapped a robe he had in his hands around her, and then he wiped her face with a wet flannel. It came away bloody, and Lavender was momentarily frightened. “The ram,” he told her and she sighed in relief. “You had a fun night last night, you and Asgre did,” He said as he slid her ring back on her finger.

Lavender spit a bit of wool from her mouth. “Yes, well let’s try a calf next time, shall we? Bloody sheep have too damn much fur,” she said, and spit another bit on the ground.

Seamus laughed, and they heard Asgre snort behind them. He walked up to the dragon and hugged her neck. “Good morning to you too, you great green goofball.” Asgre stretched, nuzzled Seamus and Lavender, and then climbed into the sky to return to her lair. “Ready for a shower and breakfast?” he asked his fiancé.

Lavender shook her head. “Shower yes, food no. I’m still stuffed from last night!” she looked at him. “How much did I eat?”

“Just a leg o mutton, dear,” Seamus said, laughed, and led her back into the compound.


	11. The Show

All’s Fair

The Show

 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Pansy’s voice boomed in the stadium. “This afternoon, before the third annual United Charities Quidditch match, we present something special. Our friends at the Whales Dragon Reserve have brought us a singular treat.” Pansy pointed her wand at the space above the VIP box she stood in. A fifty foot tall twenty foot wide version of the poster that had been everywhere for the last two months appeared hanging there in the air. It featured a full length picture of Lavender, smiling, her hand stroking the head of a horntail. Across the top was printed, “United Wizarding Charities Third Annual Charity Match Special Presentation”, and across the bottom, “Featuring Lavender Brown and Dante”.

 “My friend, Lavender Brown,” Pansy continued, and there was a huge roar from the audience. “Thank you, my friend, Lavender, has consented to introduce us to one of her friends.

 “As I’m sure you have all read Lavender is a remarkable person. She fought bravely, heroically, during the Battle of Hogwarts, and now her courage is even more apparent. You see, up until a few months ago, Lavender was forced to hide herself. She couldn’t find a situation because of her affliction, and the only thing that saved her from a life of poverty were the awards she received for her bravery. Then Lavender made a trip to the Wales Dragon Reserve. It was love at first sight.” Pansy laughed. “Lavender was offered and accepted the position of Dragonologist. It seems, as you will see, that the dragons and Lavender have a special connection. Her work at the WDR has resulted in some astonishing advances in the science of dragon keeping.” Pansy smiled. “I dare say she knows more about them than anyone one earth.”

As ten men in groundskeepers uniforms emerged from the pitch entrance Pansy continued. “The workers you see on the pitch are erecting shields between the pitch and the stands for safety.” While Pansy spoke a team of people activated shields that shimmered into existence between poles spaced evenly around the pitch. “These are to protect Dante from you, not the other way round. No one will be able to cast a spell or Apparate onto the pitch.” 

While Pansy was warming up the crowd, Lavender was undergoing a makeover in the women’s locker room. The two locks of hair that framed her face had been braided and join behind her head to hold the rest of her hair in place. Her hair could fly free behind her but was stylishly kept from falling in her face. Parvati had applied a small amount of powder and blush to her cheeks, and Pansy had supplied a lipstick the color of ripe cherries. Her jacket was of dark brown leather that was polished until it glowed. Emblazoned of the back was an illustration of Asgre, rearing, with her wings outstretched. Her shirt was a simple button down stolen from Seamus that morning, and her trousers, made of the supplest black leather she had ever felt, had been supplied by Hermione. Her boots were short healed, black leather, calf length, and they too shone.

“Don’t you look fuckable!” Katie Bell said from the entrance to the showers.

“Sex sells, Bell,” Parvati said over her shoulder while she finished Lavender’s hair.

“Yes, while I appreciate the compliment, Katie, I hope they pay some attention to what I have to say,” Lavender said, smiling at her in the mirror.

“The men will be enthralled, that’s for sure. The women, well they’re going to be trying to figure out how you make that simple outfit look so fucking good, but pay attention? Well, the kids will,” Katie said. “And that’s the whole point of today, isn’t it?”

“I hope so.”

Katie snorted. “Your fan club is already out there, Lavender. They sold as many tickets to this as they did the match tonight. There has to be five thousand kids out there, you know. Most of the wizarding population of Europe is in the stands, and _every_ wizarding child in Great Britton is.”

Lavender looked in the mirror at her friend. “Thanks, that helps, really,” she said dryly.

Katie smiled. “Just doing my part,” She laughed. “Seriously, Lavender, knock ‘em dead. You look beautiful, and whatever you do with Dante will be terrific.”

“And on that, it’s show time,” Parvati said, and helped Lavender up from her chair. “You’re going to do great, Lav.”

Lavender smiled at her friends. “Thanks, he and I ran though the show a few times this week. It should be fun and informative for them.”

Parvati nodded. “Time to mount up.”

 

“And so without further ado,” Pansy said, and Lavender started Dante into the dive. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Lavender Brown and Dante!”

The crowd was looking at the entrance to the pitch and didn’t notice the dragon until he dove past the highest tier of seats. Then they began to cheer. Dante pulled up and skimmed a few feet off the pitch, rose until he cleared the hoops, and then he circled the field twice. Lavender sat astride his shoulders waving to the people who were stomping and shouting in the stands. She blew a kiss to Seamus as she and Dante passed the VIP box.

“She is spectacular, Finnigan,” Thomas Greymartin said from Pansy’s side. “Truly an amazing person.”

“Thanks, Thomas,” Seamus said with a smile. “Was certainly a pleasure, us getting to know you better last night. Thanks for dinner, and tell your chef he got the lamb for Lavender just right.”

“There’s nothing I could do that would ever make us even, Seamus,” Thomas said seriously as he turned and laid a hand on Seamus’ shoulder. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for you.”

Seamus chuckled. “Ah, no need for any o’ that. All part o’ the job.”

They looked back at the pitch as Dante lightly touched down in the center ring. Lavender gracefully dismounted and hopped from Dante’s leg to the turf. She wore a small shell on a chain along with the locket Seamus had given her for her birthday a month passed. The shell was coupled to the large public address horns that surrounded the stadium. She brushed her fingers over the shell and it activated.

“Hello everyone, my name is Lavender, and I am a Dragonologist with the Wales Dragon Reserve.” The cheer was deafening. She dipped her head and said, “Thank you, thank you very much, and this is my friend, Dante.” She raised her arm in Dante’s direction, and an even louder cheer went up. “I call him my friend, because that is what he is. We at the Wales Dragon Reserve are part of a worldwide group called The Dragon Friends. We strive to better understand our friends among the Kind, and to bring that understanding to the broader wizarding community.”

Seamus sat in the VIP box and heard her voice calm. As she proceeded through her speech the slight quaver disappeared and she relaxed. “Just like Thursday love,” he said. When she spoke again he heard only her conviction in her delivery.

Lavender strode away from Dante toward one side of the pitch and continued. “Dante is a Hungarian Horntail, he weighs just shy of six tons, and at a mere five hundred and twelve he is the youngest of the Kind at the reserve. We don’t know what the upper end of a dragon’s life span is because we have never seen one die of age. The Kind physically mature very quickly but their emotional and intellectual maturation process is rather a lot longer. That is one reason we come into conflict. A dragon may look mature, but until they are several hundred years old they are still infants, multi ton, fire spitting infants.”

The audience laughed.

“We refer to the dragons as The Kind for several reasons, but the principal one is that they are. The main reason that it is impossible to domesticate a dragon is that they are very smart, and very proud. We humans, for a long time, never saw the depth of the intelligence and kindness they are capable of because we feared and hunted them. Now we seek to change that relationship.”

Lavender turned and strode back to where Dante stood. “I have a special connection to the Kind,” Lavender continued. “They can show me things, request things of us through me, and I can do the same with them. Fifty two of the Kind call the reserve home, we love each of them, and they love us.” She stroked Dante’s cheek as she passed and continued toward the opposite side of the pitch. “We want to show you that the Kind are not to be feared,” she smirked. “Unless, of course, you’ve given them a reason to be angry with you.” 

Another laugh ran through the crowd.

“Alright then,” Lavender said as she turned and faced the dragon. “Dante, as I said, is a Horntail. Dante, my friend, would you please rear for these people?” The dragon stood on his hind legs, spread his front legs and wings, and raised his head high. The crowd gasped in wonder and awe at the beautiful patterns in his scales, and the tremendous strength he showed in such simple movements. “The Horntails, as do all of the Kind, have subtle and not so subtle differences between themselves and the others of the Kind. His coloring, the patterns in his scales, and the shape and size of his wings are but a few of the obvious distinguishing characteristics of the Hortails.” Her friend settled to earth behind her and walked to her side. He lowered his face to her. “One subtle difference is that Horntails have six front whiskers instead of four. We have a supportable theory that this was an adaptation for deep cave dwelling.”

“She is so comfortable around them,” Pansy said. “It’s just amazing.” In the VIP box Seamus, Pansy, Thomas Greymartin, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Minister Shacklebolt, Madam Tonks, and  fifty other dignitaries from all over Europe looked on as Lavender and Dante showed them and the fifteen thousand others in the audience the incredible bond that she and the dragons had. Dante sat on his haunches, Lavender stood in his right forepaw, and he lifted her to his face. Lavender showed them the spikes around the back of his skull that Dante could deploy in a danger situation, she showed them his fangs, five feet long and needle tipped, and she pointed out the beautiful variegated patterns in his scales.

Dante lowered Lavender to the turf, and she continued. “Now let’s talk about fire, shall we?”

There was a loud “yes“ from the crowd.

“The first thing you should know is that dragons don’t like to spit. It’s uncomfortable, like a particularly powerful and drawn out sneeze would be for us, and other than what we call the morning snort, where they clear the passages on waking, they only do it if they feel angry or threatened.” She chuckled. “Dante will not be spitting for you today, but I will explain how it works.” She turned back to the dragon. “Dante, can you open for me?’ the dragon once more opened his mouth wide for her. Lavender drew her wand and pointed out a tube under Dante’s tongue. “This conduit leads to a set of glands that hold a mixture of sulfur, a natural light oil they produce, and an oxygen rich liquid that we call accelerant.” She pointed to two small orifices near his nasal passages. These produce an initial jet of hydrochloric acid that ignites the flame. Thank you, Dante,” she said and the dragon closed his mouth and nuzzled her. “Yes, Dante, I love you too.” She kissed his snout and the crowd laughed.

Lavender continued. “Dante can spit four to eight times before he exhausts the contents of his fire glands. After that he has to wait two hours before he can spit again. Most of the Kind have similar glands and similar abilities. The exceptions are the Fireballs. They form a lump of oil and accelerant in their mouths and then spit it as a projectile instead of a stream.” She looked around the stadium. “I have never witnessed a Fireball spit as we don’t have one at the reserve, but I’m told they can do it over twenty times before they are exhausted.”

A murmur on wonder sounded from the stands.

“Yes, I’m travelling to the Tibetan reserve in the next month and perhaps next year, if Pansy will have us back?”-Lavender gazed up at the VIP box as the crowd roared-“I’ll be able to report on that.”

Pansy laughed in her chair. “As if I’d turn her down,” she said to Seamus.

As the cheers from the audience subsided Lavender brought up an area Seamus suggested. “So we get asked rather a lot ‘why are the dragons so interested in gold?’ It wasn’t until recently that we found the answer.” She pulled her wand and summoned a piece of dragon eggshell from a table near the pitch entrance. “This is a shard of Ridgeback eggshell, and it’s very heavy. The reason is the large amount of gold present in the shell. _Extrahere Aurum!”_  she intoned. The shell hovering in front of her dissolved to powder, a large lump of gold formed in the center of the cloud, and then the rest of the shell fell to the turf as sand. “This is the amount of gold present in just that shard. We have found that the females of the Kind consume gold as a necessary component of their eggshells. It helps conduct heat into the developing embryo. Males of the kind will horde gold as an enticement for the females, and these facts explain one of the sources of our conflicts with them.”

“Fascinating,” Hermione said from Ron’s side. “How did they learn this?” she inquired of Seamus.

“Lavender asked,” he said. “Asgre showed her.”

Back on the pitch Lavender changed topics. “Now let’s talk about flight.” Lavender turned to Dante and he lowered his right side. She nimbly scampered up his leg and sat astride his shoulders. “Alright, Dante, let’s show them what you’ve got,” Lavender said, and Dante took two giant jumps forward and bounded into the air. With powerful beats of his wings he and Lavender soared around the pitch. “In the tight confines of the stadium you can’t really see how graceful he is, so we’ll be using the open sky. Don’t be alarmed at anything you are about to see, I’m perfectly safe,” Lavender told the crowd after their second circuit, and then she and Dante spiraled up out of the pitch into the sky above western England. Lavender looked over her shoulder at the pitch and stadium surrounding it, receding, getting smaller. She and Dante turned back towards the ground at two miles up, and she leapt from his back.

Back in the VIP box Seamus laughed. All through the box and the stands people were shouting and screaming, pointing at the sky with panicked expressions, and wide eyed in shock. One pair of wide eyes belonged to Hermione, and Seamus shook his head when she looked at him. “Just watch,” He told her and winked at the other guests in the box. Dante banked and swooped around Lavender as she soared, arms outstretched, her long blonde hair streaming out behind her. At two thousand feet above the ground Dante dove and met her. Lavender tucked, landed perfectly astride his shoulders, and the crowd lost their minds. 

“Want to see that again?” Lavender asked after she and Dante pulled out of the dive and circled the pitch. There was unanimous consent. Their second and even more spectacular dive ended with them landing on the pitch, both breathing heavily. “That’s a bit harder than it looks,” Lavender said breathlessly, and the crowd chuckled and cheered. She and Dante walked to one side of the pitch next to the stands. The shield shimmered a few feet away, and on the other side people gathered to get a closer look at the amazing pair. They began a slow walk around the pitch so that everyone would get a chance, and Lavender thanked them for coming and for paying attention. 

“The Dragon Friends would also ask you to help us save the Kind. We don’t need money, we need you to not buy dragon products that don’t come from us,” she told them sincerely. “We supply most of the dragon dung sold in Great Britton, Ireland, and Wales of course, and that funds us nicely, but we ask you not to eat our friends, not to kill them for wands, or for their blood, or for their skins. The jacket you see me wearing today is of a treated piece of Dante’s skin he shed three months ago, Ollivander’s has consented to use shed whiskers, we collect blood painlessly every few weeks to supply that demand, and please, now that you have met Dante, how could you possibly think to eat one of the Kind?” She wiped a tear from her face. “Will you do this for us?”

They roared their response.

“Thank you,” she said, and waved to the crowd. “Thank you so very much… “

_Arouk_?

“Dante?” He had stopped, and he was standing stock still, staring at a small girl wrapped in a robe and scarf on the other side of the shield. “Dante?” she asked again. “What is it, my friend?” 

_Arouk_.

He was frozen in place, holding the gaze of the girl. Lavender placed her hand on Dante’s cheek and closed her eyes. _You are so beautiful, so very beautiful._ Lavender heard the girl say in her mind.

With a stunned expression Lavender opened her eyes, and Dante turned and met them. _Arouk_!

Lavender nodded and smiled broadly, and then she turned to the crowd. “Well, it seems the show is not quite over.” She looked directly at the young girl on the other side of the shield. “What is your name, young lady?”

The girl said something, but it was so soft Lavender didn’t hear it. “Come now, your are Arouk, speak loudly.” Lavender said firmly.

“Katlyn Maclellen,” the girl said in her Scottish brogue.

“Are your parents here?”

The girl nodded.

“May I please have one of the security attendants escort Katlyn and her parents to the pitch entrance?” Lavender asked at the VIP box.

Pansy turned to her assistant just behind her. “Make it happen, NOW!” He Disparated. A few moments later a man in a red suit with the pitch security logo on his beast appeared next to Katlyn. Her mother and father had just joined their daughter from their seats. Lavender and Dante watched as they were led away to the secure player’s entrance.

Lavender looked up at the people in the stands as they murmured in curiosity. “The Kind have a name for me and women like me. We are called Arouk, the ones who know,” she said while she and Dante walked toward the shield at the pitch entrance. “We are very rare, one in every few hundred years, but it seems in this generation there are two of us. There are many factors that go into being an Arouk, but one should be obvious to the Ravenclaws out there.”

“Werewolf,” she heard a man say quietly.

“Yes, we are werewolves.” She stopped around fifty feet from the entrance to the pitch. “Dante, would you wait here for a few moments?” she asked her friend. He nuzzled her and sat. Lavender continued to the entrance where Katlyn and her parents stood. “Lower the shield,” Lavender told the security agent. It shimmered and disappeared. “Do you mind if just Katlyn comes onto the pitch with me?” Lavender asked Katlyn’s father and then mother. They nervously nodded, eyes wide. Lavender smiled at them. “Your daughter is very special, and she will be safer here than anywhere on earth.” She squatted down on her haunches and held out her hand. “Come with me, young Arouk. This is your future if you want it.”

Katlyn calmly approached Lavender, took her hand, and as the shield shimmered back into place they walked to Dante. Lavender stopped twenty feet from the dragon. “Why do you wear the scarf?” Lavender asked as she faced Katlyn.

“Scars,” the girl said quietly, and looked down at her feet.

Lavender nodded. “Take it off,” she said firmly. “You are Arouk, you are special, and you have nothing to be ashamed of or fear.” Lavender knelt, and as she unwrapped the scarf from Katlyn’s face she continued, “I have recently learned we must not hide what we are.” Four long claw marks, puffy and pink, ran down her left cheek and neck. Her hair, vibrant red and nearly as curly as Hermione’s, fell and obscured most of the scars.  “There, you are strong and powerful, Katlyn. Never forget,” she said, and motioned Katlyn forward. “Go on.”  The girl slowly walked to Dante. The Horntail laid his head on the field and closed his eyes. Katlyn stepped up to him, laid her right hand on his snout, and gasped.

“This is our gift,” Lavender said quietly to the hushed crowd. “An Arouk can feel them, everything, memories, emotions, desires, and they feel us.” She looked at Katlyn. The girl was standing eyes closed and enraptured, and Dante began to purr. “What is Dante showing you, Katlyn?”

“The valley, the Kind,” the girl said reverently. “It’s so beautiful. He says I am for the White Father.”

Lavender smiled, taking in Katlyn’s vibrant red hair and her obvious courage. “Yes, yes you certainly are. He will be very happy.” Katlyn smiled wide, and then she, Lavender, and Dante twitched. He opened his eyes, stood, looked up at the sky above the pitch, and growled. “Dante would you protect Katlyn please,” Lavender said quickly, and she took a few steps away from them. The dragon curled around the girl until she was only visible as a face framed in red hair between his legs. Lavender drew her wand and pointed it into the sky. “ _Finite Incantatem!”_ she said loudly, and swept the opening above the shields. A man on a broom appeared in the center of the pitch, thirty feet in the air.

Dante growled again.

“Well, you may get to see Dante spit today after all,” Lavender muttered angrily, and the crowd laughed. She looked at the man on the broom, and before he could react his shield was down and she had cast _Sonorus_ on him. “Alright, Mr. Sad Arse, can you read?” she asked him sarcastically.

He looked puzzled. “What?” he replied.

In the VIP box Seamus laughed. “Forgot how much I love watching this,” he said.

“Watching what,” Pansy asked.

“Lavender in a fight.” He sniggered. “She talks, you see, a lot.”

Pansy turned to her assistant who had returned from his earlier mission. “Security, on the pitch, yesterday.” He nodded once and was gone again.

On the pitch Lavender smirked. “Do. You. Speak. English?” she asked slowly and precisely.

“Yes,” the bemused man replied.

“Well then, dimbo, can you read?” she asked again.

“Yes,” he replied again, a bit testily.

“You’ve read about me then?” she asked in a light voice.

“I didn’t come here for and interrogation,” he said haughtily

“And yet you’re getting one anyway, knob head,” she said and the audience chuckled. “Answer the question you gormless twit.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.” he said, obviously starting to get angry.

_Annoy your opponent._ “Hmm, so what makes you think you’re going to live though this?” she asked in a conversational tone, and the crowd laughed openly.

“We’re good at what we do,” he said with a smirk.

_We?_ Lavender thought, and she flicked her wand over her shoulder, a hemispherical shield bubble formed over Dante and Katlyn, a moment later one formed around her. It was so fast that members of the crowd gasped, and the man on the broom eyes widened.

Lavender looked at the crowd to her right. “Thought you said you read about me?” she deadpanned at them. The audience genuinely laughed.

“I can see why you love her so much,” Pansy said to Seamus.

“That’s my girl,” he said with a wide smile.

Back on the pitch Lavender had succeeded, the man on the broom was angry. “We’re ready for you, werewolf,” he spat.

The audience gasped.

Lavender turned deliberately to him. “You really are an idiot,” muttered in a low angry tone of realization, then, “The next time you say that word, say it with the respect it deserves,” she said in a slow snarl.

“Aye, he’s gone and done it now, poor fucker,” Seamus said, and leaned forward.

The man laughed for a little less than a second before Lavender’s first curse took his shield out, the second took him off his broom. Her third caught him in the chest in midair and hurled him across the pitch. Lavender rolled to her side to avoid several jets of red that appeared from nowhere above her and slammed into her shield and then the turf. From her position on her back everything was in front of her. She swept the sky above the pitch again with _Finite_ , and twelve men on brooms appeared as the disillusion charm around them failed. In their shock at being revealed they let their guard down for a fraction of a second. That was all the time she needed. Lavender downed two with stunners before they regrouped. She rolled again and sprang to her feet as more curses rained down at her. At a dead run toward one group Lavender took three out of the air.

“Four, five, six. Half down.” Lavender counted off, and stopped facing the remainder of the men.

 Two swooped down at her. She levitated one of the unconscious men into their path and unseated them.

“Seven, eight. Pathetic.” Lavender said, and the audience cheered. 

 Two of the remaining four pulled back to regroup while one went to aid his fallen fellows. He went to the man who had been talking with Lavender first and revived him while the others harried her with curses from a safe distance.

“Who’s your best man?” Lavender asked casually from behind her shield.

The leader looked to his left at one of the men Lavender had yet to stun. “Cobblestone, here.”

“Cease fire and send him down,” she told him. “We’ll have ourselves a little duel so you can see how futile this really is.”

“She’s pretty confident, Shay,” Harry said. “You certain?”

Seamus chuckled. “You we’re there seventh year to see this. Lav was defense instructor, and she’s just as good as you and Lupin were at it, maybe better. She even invented a thing we call the ‘spell barrage’. You memorize three or four spells in a row and if your wand hand is fast enough to follow your nonverbal, well, watch.”

Cobblestone landed on the pitch after a short conversation with the men’s leader. “I’ve been playing nice so far, Cobblestone,” Lavender told him. “Because I only know one way to play serious. Are we still playing nice or do the gloves come off?”

“I won’t try to kill you, if that’s what you’re asking,” Cobblestone replied.

Lavender nodded. “Alright, good,” she said and bowed, then settled into her en guard position. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

Lavender recognized Ernie Macmillan’s boisterous laugh. 

 “No, you’re not!” Lavender huffed.  The three spells that followed happened so quickly that Cobblestone was on his back, wandless, in less than a second. Lavender caught his wand in her hand and examined it. “Willow, unicorn hair, lovely.” She levitated it back to him as he got to his feet. 

In the VIP booth Seamus laughed at Harry, Ron, and The Minister’s gapes. “That, my friends, was a spell barrage.”

“Horrible. Really quite bad,” Lavender said in her instructors tone as Cobblestone caught is wand. “Take up your wand.” She settled into her en guard. “Again.”

Back on the pitch Cobblestone looked at Lavender in fear and wonder. “Wha.. I?”

Lavender held up her hand to silence him. “Peaks, you out there?”

“Yes, Master Brown,” Jimmy Peaks voice rang in the stadium.

Lavender smirked. They had taken to calling her “Master Brown” while she led the classes in wand and spell work in the room of requirement. The name had come from Professor McGonagall. She had called Lavender a “Wandmaster Brown” when she had demonstrated her skills in a transfiguration lesson during the war year. The term had been shortened, and it was then standard form to address her as such in lessons.

“What’d he do wrong?”

“What, you mean besides not pissing himself and fleeing in terror?” Peaks asked, and the crowd roared.

Lavender giggled herself. “Yes, besides that,” she said, and the audience quieted.

“Wand hand was not in proper en guard, weak hand was not in proper support position, and he wasn’t even close to good posture,” Jimmy peaks said promptly.

“Ten points to Gryffindor,” Lavender muttered. “Very good, Jimmy.” She turned to Cobblestone who was staring gob smacked at Lavender. “So, Cobblestone. Wand up, across your body in defense, go on.”

He raised his wand nervously.

“Yes, like that,” Lavender told him, erected a quick shield, and addressed the audience. “You see with his wand held loosely and low at his side as he did at first he had no chance to quickly defend. Now at least he can attempt a block.” She paused and smirked. “Not that it’s going to work,” she finished in a murmur, and turned back to Cobblestone as the crowd chuckled. “Your weak hand, what do you normally do with it?”

“I… Um…”

Lavender looked that the leader. ‘And this numpty is the most articulate among you too, eh?”

The crowd laughed again.

She addressed Cobblestone. “Your weak hand should be behind your wand hand for fine control, I know Flitwick covered this. Did you not you pay attention?”

“I… well…”

 Yes, yes.” She straightened and dissolved her shield. “Again, En guard.”

He dropped into a slight crouch and held his wand in defense position.

“Better, are you ready?” Lavender asked.

Cobblestone nodded nervously.

Lavender snorted and shook her head. “No, you’re not.”

He did actually manage to block the first spell but the second third and fourth had him on his back and his wand in Lavender’s hand again. “It’s very pretty, who did the carving?” Lavender asked as she sent his wand back to him again while the crowd sniggered. “Ah, never mind that. Robbins?”

“Yes, Master Brown?” Demelza Robbins voice called out.

“Flaws?”

“Well, he’s still not running away,” Demelza said, continuing Peaks’ joke and the audience laughed again. After a moment Lavender held up her hand and Demelza continued. “Wand position is still low, and I think his grip is wrong but I can’t see it from here. His weak hand fingering is odd at best, his posture is still wrong, but his biggest problem is that he’s far too slow for you. He might have a chance against me…”

“No, Demi, he wouldn’t,” Lavender commented. She dissolved her shield and addressed Cobblestone. “Demi is quite correct, another ten to Gryffindor.” She looked at Cobblestone and the men on the brooms. “And that’s the end of lessons today, you have no chance, your time is running out, and you have exhausted my patience,” she said in a clipped voice. Several people in audience murmured “Uh, oh” in trepidation for the men on the field.

“You should leave now,” Terry Boot yelled out. “It’ll be very bad for your health if you stay.”

Lavender smiled. “Terry is not wrong. Mcgillicuddy.”

Seamus was out of his chair in an instant. She had used their code word.

“Why in the hell isn’t she an Auror, Finnigan?” The Minister asked as Seamus sprang to his feet.

“Doesn’t want to be, sir. If you’ll excuse me,” Seamus said, and looked to his side. “Ron, Harry, you’re with me. Let’s go.” 

Back on the pitch Lavender made one last attempt. “There are children here, and I don’t want to kill you in front of them,” she told the men. “That doesn’t mean I won’t kill you. I will. It just means I’ll be angry about it when I do, and as others have pointed out, that would be bad for you. You should leave as Terry told you to do.”

“Get the bitch!” the leader yelled.

Lavender wheeled and dashed toward Dante, casting her constantly reinforced shield over herself like an umbrella. Curses battered her shield, but it didn’t collapse. She was fifty feet from Dante when a violet shaft of light gouged a ten foot deep trench between her and the dragon. She pivoted, flicked her wand over her shoulder, and the shield around Dante disappeared. With a second flick she took a man off his broom. Her attackers drew back as two barely avoided incineration from a fount of dragon fire.

The crowd cheered.

The dragon made to come to Lavender’s aid but she stopped him. “Stay with Katlyn, please, Dante,” she pleaded, not looking at the dragon. “I’ve got these arseholes,” she said through gritted teeth, and then she smiled. “I don’t think you brought enough men,” Lavender taunted, and the audience laughed nervously. “Not if you’re here for Dante.”

“No, werewolf, we’re here for you,” the leader said pompously.

A murmur of anger went through the crowd, and Lavender showed him her battle grin. “Is that so? Well, then you really didn’t bring enough men,” she growled. Lavender glanced at the pitch entrance. Seamus, Ron, and Harry were there reviving Katlyn’s parents and the security agent. They had obviously been attacked and stunned, and Lavenders anger became an incandescent fire. She looked back the leader, and then to his men and nodded at them. “Okay, gloves are off you daft wankers. Let’s dance.”

She ran at them, zig-zaging across the pitch, and firing spells constantly. Her _Bombarda_ shattered the shields of three, and they barely escaped the ensuing _Incendio._ The men fired back, but she was never where their curses landed. They flew in opposite directions trying to surround her, trying to confuse her, but she saw their unintentional pattern. A curse dug a hole next to her and she veered and fired a spell barrage. Two successive _Reductos_ removed the man’s shield, and he didn’t have time to re-erect it before the _Lithos_ in the spell barrage ended him. He smashed to fragments when he impacted the turf.

The crowd gasped in shock.

“Enough! Take her!” the leader shouted, and every one of the men on the brooms charged. They showered curses at her. Lavender angled her shield to reflect the curses back at them as best she could, while she dodged to her side. Another opening presented itself. Two successive _Bombardas_ took out the shields protecting five of the men, and her _Sectumsempra_ took the head off of one, the leg off another, and cut a third in half. The leader was dumfounded in shock, and he didn’t even see the two _Reductos_ that shattered his shield. He did however see the lightening curse that killed him and two of his followers.

By this point the crowd noise was deafening.

Lavender was already charging the remaining six. They split and flew in opposite directions around the pitch. She sent another barrage of spells at one. _Bombarda_ took his shield, _Reducto_ took his broom, _Petrificus_ took his ability to move, and the _Leviosa_ she used to smash him into one of his fellows took both their lives.

Everyone in the stands was on their feet cheering for her. Lavender didn’t hear them though, her focus was on her opponents, and all she heard were bits of their panicked shouts as she cut through them, the scythe of death incarnate. They split again, flying as fast as they could around the pitch to try and avoid the constant stream of curses emanating from her wand. Then they got lucky. One of the remaining men, a stout built man, used the shields to ricochet a stunner off of and it tripped her. The two _Stupefys_ from his companionsthat followed knocked her unconscious to the grass of the pitch. The audience screamed as two men immediately cast _Incarserous_ on her and levitated her to one of their brooms. The man on the broom with Lavender flew straight out of the pitch and disappeared.

As Lavender was whisked from the stadium the shield at the pitch entrance dissolved, and Seamus, Ron, Harry, Katlyn’s parents, and the security agents dashed onto the field. 

“Withdraw!” the stocky man shouted, and the last of the men flew up and out of the stadium, as Dante roared and the three Aurors fired curses at their retreating backs.

Katlyn laid her hand on Dante’s side, nodded, and said, “Go.” Dante roared again, leapt into the air, and raced after Lavender and her captors as the crowd cheered him on.

“Where are they taking her?” Seamus bellowed at the one lone, live, legless man. He shuddered and died of shock in Seamus’ grip.

“You are the Arouk’s mate?” a young soft voice asked.

Seamus turned. Katlyn McClellan stood calmly on the pitch as her parents raced up to her.

“Kat,” Her mother cried and embraced the girl.

“I’m fine, Mum, but we must go to the Kind.” Katlyn told her mother.

“No, not after all this!” her father said.

“Dad,” Katlyn said as she took his hand. “I must go; Dante has given me a message for the White Father. I have to go.”

“We’ll all go,” Seamus said. “But we go now.” He grabbed Katlyn’s limp left hand, and her mother’s right hand. Katlyn’s father already had her right hand. “Meet us at the reserve,” He told Ron and Harry, and then Seamus Apparated himself, Katlyn, and her family.


	12. The Doom

All’s Fair

The Doom

 

Cold.

It was cold.

Air was rushing over he and she shivered. Then it all came back, and she opened her eyes. Ropes and chains bound her, and a leather contraption covered her face. The sea was racing by beneath her, and she could feel Dante; he was perhaps only a quarter of a mile behind them and gaining. _Wait! Not yet, Dante._  She sent as powerfully as she could to him. _Let them take me to where they are going. Please my friend, stay back, stay safe._

~*~

Seamus, Katlyn, and her parents snapped into reality in the common field at the reserve. He immediately led them to the port box. “Horatius,” he said loudly when Katlyn’s father closed the door. “Alright, out we go,” Seamus said.

The mountainside was deserted. “Horatius!” Seamus yelled, and shot red sparks in the air with _Pariculum_. 

“He’s coming,” Katlyn said, smiling broadly. “There.” She pointed to a gap in the trees a few hundred yards away. 

The giant white dragon appeared in the gap and hurried toward the humans. At a hundred feet away he stopped dead, staring at Katlyn, and then the dragon spoke. _“Aliana,”_ Horatius said in a low awed slur.

Katlyn pulled her hand from her stunned father’s, and walked toward Horatius. “Dante tells me I am for you, White Father,” she said as she approached the dragon.

“Where is she hurt?” Seamus asked Katlyn’s father quietly.

“Her neck, her left arm is useless. He bit the whole upper left side, crushed her arm, broke her collarbone. She was only four.”

“Who?” Seamus probed further.

“Mortimer, he was…”

“Greyback’s lieutenant, yes we know,” Seamus said. “Why?”

“Almarack Molton wanted Marion.” He nodded toward his wife. “She’s half blood and I’m Muggle, so he thought he could just take her. We fought back.”

Marion turned to the men. “I cursed him when he came and tried to rape me, so he sent Mortimer after Kat. We tried so hard to stop them when they came, so hard…” she started to cry.

Seamus watched as Katlyn laid her hand on Horatius’ snout and communed with the dragon. He chuckled to himself. “Two things: one, did he bite or hurt you too?”

“He didn’t bite us, but Adam has a horrible wound to his side that won’t heal correctly,” Marion said and sniffed. “And… and he clawed my chest.”

Seamus smirked. “Right. Well, two. You read Lavenders testimony?”

“Of course, everyone did,” Marion responded.

“Aye,” Seamus said with a smile. “Well you remember the two fellas Lavender used to shield Neville from the killing curse?”

They nodded.

“We’ve done a fair bit o’ reconstruction of the battle. We know who died where, but there were a lot of mysteries as to how. Lavender cleared a good bit o’ that up.’ He smiled at them. “One o’ them two dumb arses was Almarack Molton.” He chuckled at their wide eyes. “Aye, he’s gone for good.” He laid his hand on Adams shoulder. “Now, Horatius is going to heal Katlyn, and it’s not without a good deal of pain, but…” He looked over at Katlyn and Horatius. The dragon was stroking her lovingly with his whiskers and they both had their eyes closed. “Katlyn?” he called lightly.

“Yes, Mr. Finnigan.”

“Would you ask Horatius if he would heal your parents too?”

There was a moment of silence. “Of course he will,” she said happily.

“Right then, Adam, a moment,” Seamus said, and took Katlyn’s father aside while her mother looked on. Seamus explained about healing power of the dragon’s tears and how it had gone with Lavender. “I’ll be right here,” he said, and sat on a rock and faced away from Horatius and Katlyn.

Adam and Marion Maclellen walked tentatively to their daughter. “It will be fine, Mum, Dad. Really it will.”

“Mr. Finnigan says it will hurt, my dear one,” Marion said. “I hate for you to be hurt again.”

“But, I’ll be better. He’s shown me, Mum, what it did for Aliana. She was his last Arouk, and she was more badly hurt than me. We’ll be fine, Mum.”

Her father smiled down at her. “You’ll be Gryffindor, just like your grandfather.” He stated proudly. “Alright, Katlyn let me help you with your robes.”

Seamus heard the conversation, he heard the rustling of fabric, he heard the scrabbling of the dragon’s claws on the rocks and earth around his liar, he heard Katlyn say ‘you first, mum’, and he heard the stifled cries of pain from Katlyn’s mother, and then her father. He heard their soft, wonder filled words and their sobs of joy and thanks to the great white dragon, and then he heard Katlyn howl just as Lavender had. It lasted less than a minute, but he was sure it was an eternity for her mother and father. Then he heard the sounds of weeping.

“Mr. Finnigan?” Katlyn’s voice carried above her mother’s cries of joy. “The White Father… Horatius,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “Will be gathering the Kind in the common field. He asks that you meet us there.”

~*~

The man that had taken Lavender from the pitch dropped her to the turf of the field as the rest of her captors were landing. He turned to look behind him as he dismounted his broom and vanished in a column of fire, then cage sprang up from the ground around Dante and enclosed him. The young brown dragon spat fire through the bars and crashed against them but they held him firm. 

A man in white robes strode from the surrounding forest and clapped his hands. “Excellent, well done, men!” He exclaimed to the remaining captors.

“We fucking lost ten, Hax,” The large, burly man told him, with balled fists and no small amount of anger in his voice.

“Ten percent bonus per man, Orthenbe, that was the deal I had with Williams,” the man called Hax said as he looked that the three remaining men. “Didn’t make it, did he? Well, you’ll be paid. Dragon proved to be harder to get that he thought?” 

Orthenbe looked at Hax with disgust. He wanted to curse that self-satisfied smile off his face. “He had to change the plan. The show went on a lot longer than we had prepared for, and the enchantments were wearing off. Instead of ambushing them behind the stadium we had to go in. The dragon only killed Altman there; she took the rest you fucking arsehole. Your werewolf there is as deadly as an asp and twice as fast. You and Williams didn’t make that clear us. If I hadn’t got a lucky shot off we’d all be dead and she’d be hoisting a pint right now. As it is it cost me ten friends this time and five more from before. I’ve done all I intend to for this obsession that you and your employer have, now pay up!”

 He looked at the two other men. “He should share that with you.”

“I will, you pompous arse,” Orthenbe spat. “I keep my word and my bond. We’ve brought you your fucking dragon and your goddamned werewolf.” The man looked around the field. “I want out of this as quick as we can get out of it.”

Hax laughed. “The werewolf is magically chained and muzzled; the dragon is contained in a hardened cage.” He shook his head. “What’s your hurry, what are you afraid of?”

Orthenbe looked first at the dragon, and then at Lavender. She barley saw the smirk. “Don’t want to be here when their friends arrive.”

Hax looked incredulous. “We’re on the isle of Man surrounded by a _Fidelius_ charm I cast myself. They won’t find us.’

“You just keep thinking that,” Orthenbe said. “Come across.”

“Alright, I’ve no complaints,” said Hax. He waved his wand and a small chest appeared on the grass. A second flick and it opened revealing galleons and gems. “Twenty thousand galleons, plus twenty more for your lost men. It’s all there.”

The chest shrank and flew into Orthenbe’s pocket. “We’ll be leaving now.” He looked at Lavender. “We left you and the dragon alive, remember than if we meet again,” he said, and he disaparated.

Cobblestone walked to where Lavender lay. She was slightly pleased to see he was still alive. “I’m sorry, I…”

Lavender smiled inside her mask. “Take care, Cobblestone. Remember what you learned today,” she said kindly.

 He lowered his eyes and disaparated along with the last man.

~*~

Lavender stretched as the chains fell to the floor and Hax backed away, his wand trained on her. “I don’t bite,” she said, smirking.

“I’m not counting on that,” Hax said, and Lavender chuckled.

“Oh, I promise you I’m not going to be the one that kills you.” She said casually and stroked her locket. “That’ll be my fiancé.”

“Yeah, who’s he?” Hax asked.

Lavender squeezed hard on the locket. “Seamus,” she said in a confident satisfied voice.

 

“Quiet!” Seamus said in a loud whisper. The dragon friends, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Pansy and Parvati, gathered around the table in the common hall and listened to Lavenders voice coming from the open locket resting on the table top.

“My fiancé, the Auror Seamus Finnigan. You know of him?”

Charlie’s hand rubbed Seamus’ back. “She’s alive.”

“She’s more than that,” Seamus whispered.

“Too bad,” Lavender continued. “You see he’s very good, and just because were all the way out here on the Isle of Man surrounded by your _Fidelius_ charm doesn’t mean he won’t find us and kill you for this.” There was a pause. “If you say so. Why are Dante and I here?” she asked angrily. “A group of what?”

_“Fidelius,”_ Seamus said quietly. “That’s why the locater charm failed. Thought so.”

 The locket was silent for at least a minute 

“So, let me get this straight,” Lavender’s voice resumed, and Seamus could hear the cold fury in it. “You intend to butcher Dante and me, and then serve us for dinner to a group of, what did you call them again?” a pause. “Yes, epicures.” She huffed, and then growled, “You put one scratch on Dante’s scales and you’ll regret it for the rest of your short fucking life! You understand me? I’ll make certain these nice white robes of yours are soaked in your own goddamn blood.”

Seamus smiled. _You tell em, lass._

“Best served fresh, eh? So you’re plan is to kill Dante tomorrow morning, and then me tomorrow night after the change?” Seamus could hear the smile in her voice. “Get me some food and wine then.” Another pause. “Listen, Arnold Hax, I’m wandless in the top room of the tallest tower in this crap castle of yours, where the fuck am I going to go? I’m hungry, thirsty, and I’m shaking off the effects of two stunners. Food, arsehole, now.” 

“Not a good idea to aggravate her this close to full moon, Hax,” Seamus said

“A party?” Lavender said. “You’ve converted the chapel into a ball room, have you?” Another pause. “Oh yes, I’ll behave,” she laughed. “Half an hour? Alright, I’ll freshen up and be happy to meet your guests. Now get the fuck out, and Hax? Be certain the beef is rare.” More silence. “You get all that, Shay?”

Seamus picked up his locket and squeezed. “Lavender, on our way, love.”

Pansy turned to Parvati. “We’ve had dealings with this Hax, I think. I want everything we have on him.”

Parvati nodded and disaparated.

Harry kissed Ginny on the cheek. “On my way to the records department,” he said, and with a snap he was gone.

“You need me to go to Robards for re-enforcements?” Ron asked.

“Don’t think we’ll need them.” Seamus said, and he looked at Charlie. “Got a map?”

 

 

Seamus could just see Asgre in the moonlight, she was outpacing them all. Behind her Horatius was a giant white glow with a spark of red at his shoulders. The rest of the Kind followed as the sea raced by under them. He smiled to himself. Katlyn was amazingly powerful and an innate warrior; she hadn’t batted an eye or shown the least bit of nerves when it turned out her first act as Arouk was to lead the Kind into battle. Lavender would be pleased. Katlyn also had no idea that her power had limits, so she had accomplished the shallower joining over a distance of nearly a mile. The great Doom of the Wales Dragon Reserve followed Horatius in a large delta formation, interlocked in the slipstream of the air and the tenuous link between them all.

He had been concerned that Katlyn would not be able to translate the concept of the map into something the dragons could recognize, but had been delighted to find they understood an aerial view of the ground quite well. He pointed out to Katlyn where they were and were the Isle of Man was in relation to them, and through her the dragons knew. Horatius had then trumpeted an order to the Kind, and every one of them but Asgre lowered a shoulder. All twenty eight Dragon Friends had mounted, and then Katlyn’s parents, Pansy, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny had accepted positions among the cavalry. No one even approached Asgre as she paced and snorted in her eagerness to go. With all but a few of the Kind carrying a person, the Doom had ascended and sped north toward the Irish Sea.  

~*~

“More wine?” the corpulent man beside her asked.

Lavender sniggered. “No, I’ll be flying soon, and changes in altitude give me a headache if I’ve had too much.”

The man looked at her with a puzzled expression, and she laughed at his bemusement. She shook her head. “Drink up though, it’s you last meal.”

The man laughed. “I love her, Hax,” he shouted down the table to the man at its head. Hax, being a thoughtful host, had placed Lavender halfway down the table so that all his guests could have a chance to meet the meat.

Lavender chewed the last bite of her beef and smiled at her captors. She had played the role of charming guest well, and they all were smitten. Not enough that they refrained from commenting how good she would taste the next night, but she treated it as the joke they didn’t know it was. Her senses were telling her that Katlyn and the Kind were getting nearer, and she could just feel Asgre and her burning anger at the edges of her perception. A few more minutes and she could send a full message.

~*~

Asgre trumpeted piercingly from the front of the doom. Brighid, with Pansy astride her, Dimitrie with Luna, and Sorcha carrying Ginny peeled from the group and joined her as she angled away from the doom. Seamus knew that they were going to Lavender while the rest went to Dante and to secure the perimeter. Asgre had sensed her, and nothing would keep the furious Welsh Green from her Arouk. He had a very small and passing moment of pity for anyone near his fiancé.

~*~

_AROUK!_

Lavender smiled into her goblet. _I am here, my dearest friend._

_I COME FOR YOU, NOW._

She looked down the table at her host and chuckled. _I am waiting._

_THEY WILL BURN!_

Lavender looked around the table at all the dead people laughing and eating dinner, and she nodded her head. _Yes, they will._ Lavender heaved a sigh. “Well,” she said loudly as she stood. “This has been great fun, but I find it’s time for me to leave.”

Hax started to laugh, and soon his guests had joined him. They stopped when Lavender pulled her chair out, stepped onto the seat, and then onto the table.

“This is where you wanted me anyway, isn’t it, Hax?” she asked as she strode away from him towards the far end of the table. She carefully stepped over serving dishes and plates as she walked until she came to the end of the table and turned back to the assembled guests. She looked to her right at the three goblins siting there and shook her head. “You are in very serious danger, if you run right now you might live,” she told them with a smile, and they laughed at her. She shrugged her shoulders, “Oh well, I tried,” she said, and addressed the room. “I don’t know what you paid Hax for the privilege of dying here tonight, but I’m certain it was too much.” They started to laugh again, but stopped when a huge explosion rocked the castle and an unmistakable roar rent the air.

Lavender smiled down at their shocked faces. “That would be my ride; Goodbye,” she told them

Through the windows on the west side of the chapel Lavender and the stunned dinner guests saw several founts of dragon fire in the forest clearing and in the sky above it, and then Lavender felt Dante’s excitement at being freed from his cage. The guest’s attention had just turned back to her when the chapel shook violently, and the roof above her was peeled back in the same way that a child opens his Boxing Day package. The party guests screamed and bolted for any door they could find as a huge scaled green arm descended into the room and scooped Lavender from the table. A few people followed the goblins as they jumped through two windows, and several trampled their fellows beneath them in their mad dash to escape the three dragons visible through the hole that was the chapel roof. Spells shot from a few wands, but they splashed harmlessly against the shields that Pansy and Ginny cast.

 As Lavender mounted Asgre her wand floated from Ginny to her. “You left that on the pitch,” she shouted over the sounds of screams and the growls of the dragons. “Shay thought you’d like it back.”

“Where is he?” Lavender shouted.

Dimitrie, with Luna astride him, landed in the courtyard next to the chapel, his foot crushing a fleeing woman. “Seamus is with Katlyn McClellan, Lavender,” Luna said to her while Dimitrie picked up the unfortunate woman’s corpse, bit it in half, and swallowed the lower part of her body. “He will be here shortly, as it appears their mission has succeeded.” Dimitrie gulped down the remainder of his snack, and then he and Luna took flight again.

“Let’s roast these fucks!” Pansy shouted, a furious, maniacal expression on her face, and Lavender could feel Brighid’s roiling fury seeping into Pansy through the connection Katlyn had created. Lavender pushed more energy into the bonding magic, strengthening it, and she smiled.

As one Asgre, Brighid, and Sorcha roared at the sky and inhaled deeply. Lavender had never felt the righteous anger that leads to a full spit. Asgre was glowing with rage. Lavender felt the sensation within Asgre’s neck as the fire glands swelled and pushed the jet forward, she felt the tickling in her nose that was the igniter dripped into Asgre’s sinus passage, and then she felt the spit.

The windows of the chapel shattered into shrapnel as they exploded outward, and the shards cut a few diners to pieces as they fled. The unfortunates that were still in the chapel were instantly carbonized as three dragons turned everything inside it to soot. From her perch on Asgre’s shoulders Lavender saw the three goblins run into the forest.  A few hundred yards away she saw Horatius’ head appear above the trees and look in the direction the goblins had run.

_They ran toward the mountain_ Lavender sent at Horatius.

_He has their scent._ Katlyn replied through the joining. _They won’t get away._

_Good, you have performed brilliantly, young Arouk._ Lavender sent to her. 

~*~

Galnut, Hawmak, and Grinthol ran with all the speed they could manage.

“I am vice admiral of Gringotts!” Gallnut huffed as he jogged. “This is intolerable. Hax will hear about this.”

“We deserve refunds,” Hawmak complained as a large white shadow passed overhead.

“Hush,” Grinthol admonished his friends in a whisper. “I kept the dragon in the deep vaults; they have long memories, delicate hearing, and keen noses. Run for your lives if you want to preserve them.”

They ran into a grove of trees and slowed to a less frantic pace. “The port key is just over this rise,” Hawmak said over his shoulder, and then he ran headlong into a large ivory tree trunk. As he picked himself up off the ground the tree moved.

A soft alto brogue floated down from above them. “The White Father asks a question of you,” it said. The three goblins looked up, and a colossal white dragon’s face peered back at them over the tree tops. Galnut tripped backwards and fell, landing on his bottom. Hawmak dropped to his knees and wept, and Grinthol looked dumbstruck into the face of his former prisoner. “What do you regret?” the voice continued.

The goblins spluttered inarticulately for a few seconds in response.

“The correct answer is ‘nothing’” the light voice told them, and then there was only fire.

~*~

As he flew towards the castle Seamus saw a flash of white run into the tower next to the gates. He leapt from Atlas, the large male Horntail that had brought him to Man, as he landed and raced around the side of the tower to the open gate. He had just sat on the short wall next to the draw bridge when a man in white robes ran from a side door.

He stopped twenty feet from Seamus, staring at the wand in the Irishman’s hand.

“You’d be Arnold Hax, wouldn’t you?” Seamus asked brightly. Asgre’s head appeared over the top of the battlements behind Hax, and Seamus hoped she understood the hand signal he slyly tried to give her and the emotion he felt into the tenuous connection that Katlyn and now Lavender were maintaining between the Kind and the humans. _Just wait a few moments, dearie. Let’s have some fun._

Hax drew his wand quickly and tried to curse Seamus. He batted the spell away offhandedly, shook his head and said, “Ah, now don’t do that, you’ll just wind up hurting yourself.”

Asgre had quietly crawled halfway up the side of the castle tower, and Seamus could see Lavenders smiling face over her dragon’s shoulder. Hax was so focused on Seamus he didn’t notice them behind him.

Hax tried another curse and Seamus deflected it at Hax’s foot. As the man hopped in pain Seamus caught his wand, and said, “I told you you’d wind up hurting yourself. I’ll just hang on to this for a bit. Now, let’s try again. You’re Arnold Hax?”

“Yes, and I’m in a bit of a hurry. Give me my wand and let me pass.”

Seamus laughed. “Oh, in due time. Me name’s Seamus Finnigan,” he said and Hax paled. “Ah, you remember. Good.” Seamus stood and paced a few feet. “You made a huge mistake, Arnold Hax, I don’t think even now you realize how big you fucked up.” Seamus laughed. “But you will.”

“She said you would kill me,” Hax said in fear. 

“That she did, I was listening.” Seamus smiled at him. “Aye, I really should kill you, you know, but I’m inclined not to.”

Hope lit in Hax’s eyes. “You’re… You’re not?”

Seamus chuckled. “No, Arnold Hax, I’m not going to kill you.” He saw Lavender’s confused look and winked at her. “Lavender’s not going to kill you; none of the people here that came along with us is going to lay a finger on you.”

Hax was actually smiling. “I’m… You’re going to let me go?”

Seamus snorted and laughed again.  “Well, I didn’t say that, I just said none of _us_ is going to kill you.” Seamus had walked fifty feet away from Hax as he paced. He looked at Asgre. “You see the one you really offended was Asgre, so, it’s Asgre here that’s going to kill you.”

Hax looked befuddled. “Who’s Asgre.”

Seamus looked past Hax, dipped his head, and pointed at the great Welsh Green over Hax’s shoulder. The fat man in white robes turned back toward the castle and sucked in a startled breath. Lavender grinned at him while the dragon growled deeply. As he side stepped over the short wall and climbed back onto Atlas’ shoulders Seamus said, “Arnold Hax, meet Asgre.”

In the fourteen thousand years since she had hatched Asgre had never been this angry. The insignificant worm on the walkway had stolen _HER AROUK!_ And worse he intended to EAT HER! A fury boiled in Asgre, it demanded its due, and she felt the rage swell in her throat. The wall collapsed under her when she dropped from the tower to the battlements, and Hax backed away as growling green death crawled over the wreckage toward him. Lavender felt it all.

Hax spun to try to run, but four other dragons with riders now stood at the opposite end of the castle bridge. Another Welsh Green with Charlie Weasley on her shoulders alit on a rocky outcropping next to the end of the bridge, and then the largest dragon Hax could imagine crashed out of the woods. A small girl with long vibrant wavy red hair sat astride the shoulders of the blindingly white dragon, and Hax looked in her eyes for sympathy. All he found there was a glacial cold staring back at him. He spun back to Asgre and Lavender, perhaps he could negotiate a way out of this, he thought.

He was suddenly face to face with Asgre. As he looked from the angry face of the dragon to Lavenders unsympathetic expression he heard the massive intake of breath. Lavender looked directly in his eyes as Asgre reared. “I said Seamus would find me, I said your life would be short, and I said you would regret what you have done. Good bye, Arnold Hax.”

~*~

Pansy pushed Thomas Greymartin down on the bed in his state room. “You should fly on a dragon more often, Pan,” Greymartin laughed as she tore his shirt from him.

“Shut up, you smirking wanker, and fuck me,” she said with a frenzied grin.

“As you wish, my one true love,” he said and kissed her roughly. With a hand on each side of her shirt he rent the blouse and bra in half with one mighty tug, and then ripped the scraps from her body. Her skirt and knickers were rags a moment later. His clothes fared no better.

She gasped as she sank down onto him. “Oh, Thomas,” she moaned. “It was the most exhilarating and arousing thing I have ever done. The flying, the heat of them, the fight, the fire… it’s just made me…”

 

“Horny as hell,” Ginny said as Harry filled her again. “Fuck, Harry, yesssss.”

“This is even better than post game sex. Damn, Gin!” he laughed. The trail of shed clothing led from the front door of Grimauld Place, up the stairs, through Harrys bedroom door, and ended at the foot of his bed.

“Well, you just keep yourself together, Potter, and hold off. I’m in need of a good and proper…”

 

“Fucking. AHHH!” Hermione shouted as she came. They hadn’t made it out of their clothes… or the car. The little Mini bounced and shook side to side as Ron drove into her on the magically enlarged back seat.

Ron chuckled. “We’ll have to go to Wales from time to time if this is what happens when you’re around dragons.”

“Oh, Ron,” Hermione said as she raked her fingernails down his back and ground her hips up into him. “When Katlyn joined us? Like Lavender did? It was amazing. I felt Arcturus’ anger, and his love for Dante and Lavender. I could feel all of them, yes, oh god, and the power just filled us. It was so arousing.”

“Yeah, I felt the same thing on Tatiana. Been sporting a woody for hours, but I thought you’d let us get out of the car park at the train station,” Ron laughed.

Hermione grabbed his arse and pulled him to her. “I couldn’t, I just got so…”

 

“Fucking wet for you,” Lavender said, and then she took Seamus in her mouth again.

“Liked me banter with Hax, did you?”

“Um hum,” she hummed.

“Learned that bit from you, me love,” he said and closed his eyes. “Ah, so fine,” he breathed.

Lavender released him, crawled up his body, took him into her warmth, and sighed. “I promise I’ll fuck you ragged like this every time you have to come rescue me, how’s that, Shay?” she asked.

He laughed. “Aye, it’s a deal. Just don’t make a habit of it, getting kidnaped, that is.”

She smiled, “Okay, I’ll just make a habit of this.”

 

The connection among the Kind and the older Arouk, the Ka Arouk, as they would come to call her, was still slightly active, and throughout the Valley of the Kind the dragons purred as they shared in the pleasure of the Ka Arouk’s mating.


	13. The Qubbler

All’s Fair

The Quibbler

 

The Quibbler

Aug 2 2004

UNITED WIZARDING CHARITIES THIRD ANNUAL CHARITY MATCH SPECIAL PRESENTATION

UPDATE!

LAVENDER BROWN RETURNED TO WALES!

 

Luna Lovegood, Wales Dragon Reserve.

After the dramatic turn of events at the United Wizarding Charities Third Annual Charity Match Special Presentation, quality pensive memories of which are already selling for hundreds of galleons, Lavender Brown has been found and returned to The Wales Dragon Reserve. When Miss Brown’s fiancé, the Auror Seamus Finnigan, burst onto the pitch the remaining three of her abductors fled. Auror Finnigan attempted interrogation of the lone surviving man from the group that had attacked Miss Brown on the pitch, but the man unfortunately died of his wounds in Auror Finnigans grasp.

Amid the carnage on the pitch, Katlyn Mclellen, the newest and youngest member of the Dragon Friends, calmly directed Auror Finnigan to take her to the Wales Dragon Reserve as she needed to deliver a message to the dragons. Her parents were quite distressed, but Auror Finnigan assured them they would be safe and Apparated them to the reserve.

This reporter followed them to the Wales Dragon Reserve in the company of Harry and Ginevra Potter, Ronald and Hermione Weasley, Pansy Parkinson and her business partner Parvati Patil. At the reserve Auror Finnigan escorted Miss Mclellen to the alpha male dragon of the reserve, Horatius. This is the same dragon the was kept prisoner in the high security vaults at Gringotts until his rescue by Mr. Potter and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley during their escape in 1998. He accepted Miss Mclellen as his Arouk immediately. For a definition of Arouk see yesterday’s article on the special presentation at the United Charities match.

Upon Auror Finnigan’s arrival at the Dragon Friends common hall he attempted several archaic and powerful locating charms, however, as was discovered later, the _Fidelius_ charm the abductors of Miss Brown had cast around their destination proved to be resistant to those charms. Using a private method that this reporter will keep confidential, Miss Brown contacted Auror Finnigan, and she was then able to pass her location, her abductors name, and the plans he had for her and the dragon Dante. 

Miss Brown had cleverly got the lead conspirator, Arnold Hax, to divulge his entire plan. It seems that Mr. Hax was the leader of a group of people that enjoy alternate fare in gastronomy. Their intent was to kill and eat both Miss Brown and the dragon Dante the following evening after Miss Brown assumed her werewolf form. This information was not well received by anyone, dragon or human, at the reserve

Auror Potter and Miss Patil left the reserve to investigate Arnold Hax, while those that remained behind prepared to mount a rescue mission. Miss Brown was able to reveal the location of her imprisonment as the Isle of Man. Auror Finnigan marshalled the Dragon Friends and those of us that accompanied him to the reserve to the common field of the reserve, and there he informed the dragons, through Miss Mclellen, of Miss Brown’s location. A plan was devised, and Miss Mclellen performed a special joining that only an Arouk can accomplish.

This reporter can only poorly describe the wonder of that joining. We were given a small hint of what it means to be Arouk, a confidant in the thoughts and feelings of the dragons. We were able to share between us our emotions and desires, and we were able to act as unified pair when the time came to fight. The dragons allowed a human each as a companion, passenger, and fellow soldier, to climb upon their shoulders. Miss Mclellen’s parents were again very concerned as she had just turned ten years of age and she was preparing to lead an army into battle, but the dragon Horatius calmed their fears with an incredibly powerful message and memory of his former Arouk. Auror Finnigan also pointed out to them that the army she was about to lead consisted of a doom totaling fifty one dragons and nearly forty wizards and witches riding them. These facts allayed their fears.

Every human and dragon present at the reserve took flight and journeyed north to Man. The trip was surprisingly short as the doom of dragons was quite eager to rescue Miss Brown and the dragon Dante. They were also very enthusiastic about exacting retribution upon her abductors. This reporter was aboard the dragon Dimitrie, a Romanian Ridgeback, when we arrived at Man. The dragon Asgre, to whom Miss Brown is Arouk, sensed her and left the main doom along with the dragons Sorcha, with Ginevra Weasley aboard, Brighid, with Pansy Parkinson aboard, and Dimitrie with this reporter. The dragon Brighid and Miss Parkinson, were just behind the dragon Asgre. Miss Parkinson, sensing a trap, sent _Reducto_ Ahead of us every few moments until the charm encountered the wards we were expecting. Due to the interaction shimmer between Miss Parkinson’s charm and the wards, the dragon Asgre was able to see the ward. The dragon Asgre, in her fury, destroyed the wards with a single blast of fire. It was astonishing, and also very loud.

Miss Brown had relayed to the dragon, Asgre, her location within the castle complex. While this reporter and the dragon Dimitrie maintained close aerial support, the dragons Sorcha, with Ginevra Weasley, and Brighid, with Pansy Parkinson removed the chapel roof, and then the dragon Asgre retrieved Miss Brown from inside the chapel. The dragons were naturally very angry with the people inside the chapel as it had been converted to a dining hall that was to serve Miss Brown and the dragon Dante as entrees the next evening. As Miss Brown pointed out in the special presentation, it is an unwise idea to irritate the dragons. None of those guests survived the dragon’s ire.  

In the intervening time the main body of the doom, with Auror Finnigan, Ronald and Hermione Weasley, Miss Mclellen and her parents, the entirety of the Dragon Friends, and the remainder of the dragons of the reserve, freed the dragon Dante. There was a very brief fight between the guards that Miss Brown’s abductor had left to watch the dragon Dante and the doom. Auror Finnigan then went in search of Arnold Hax, Miss Brown’s abductor. Upon finding Arnold Hax Auror Finnigan attempted interrogation. That interrogation was ended by the dragon, Asgre.

A cover story was concocted of local boys playing with illegal fireworks, and the local constabulary was suitably memory altered upon their arrival at the smoldering ruins of the castle.

Miss Brown, Auror Finnigan, Miss Mclellen, her parents, and the Dragon Friends returned to the Wales Dragon Reserve via the doom, while Mrs. Potter, Auror Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Miss Parkinson, and this reporter returned to their respective homes. A full statement from Miss Brown and the Dragon Friends will be released shortly; however Miss Brown wishes to immediately convey to everyone that was at the special presentation her apologies for the rudeness of her abductors, to assure them that she, Miss Mclellen, and the dragon Dante are unharmed, and that they are excitedly looking forward to next year’s show.

 

~*~

 

The Quibbler

Aug 10 2004

Life at the Wales Dragon Reserve

A conversation with The Arouks

 

 

Luna Lovegood, Wales Dragon Reserve.

Due to the outpouring of well wishes and curiosity expressed in the over one thousand letters received in the last eight days, Lavender Brown and Katlyn Mclellen have agreed to this reporter being their representative and conduit for questions. Many of the letters have similar questions, so Miss Mclellen and Miss Brown have decided to answer most of those questions here.

We meet in the great hall of the reserve just before lunch. Auror Finnigan sits at one of the benches in the hall smoking his great grandfather’s pipe and making smoke figures. Miss Brown and Miss Mclellen are sat in large cushioned arm chairs near the fireplace. Miss Brown smiles easily and converses with her fellow dragon keepers as they pass. Miss Mclellen sits alertly in her chair and has a grin on that has not left her since the day after the Special Presentation. Katlyn Mclellen is an average young woman in almost every way, what distinguishes her are her long, wavy hair the color of dying embers that reaches to her thighs, the pink white remnants of her scars on her cheek and neck, her quite obvious intelligence, and her attire that matches Miss Brown’s. They both wear trousers and jackets of treated dragon skin with high sided boots. When one works with dragons one should be properly covered. They have just returned from their morning commune with their respective principal dragons when we start.

**The Quibbler:**   Well, Lavender it seems the most popular question you get is, “Will you marry me?” _This question causes her to laugh quite loudly._

**Miss Brown:** I think Seamus might object. _The Auror Seamus Finnigan is Miss Browns fiancé._

**Auror Finnigan:** _[sings]_ Me love is a leaving me, me hearts following on , I’ve…

**Miss Brown:** Oh put a sock in it, Shay.

**Auror Finnigan:** You see that, Luna. Who else would take this abuse but me?

**The Quibbler:** I’m sure there would be many that would like to try but it would be futile. Shall we continue? _[Auror Finnigan laughs, Miss Mclellen and Miss Brown nod]_ The next most popular question for both of you is “Can I come to the reserve and meet you?”

**Miss Brown:**  No. We are a research facility not a zoo or a home for wizarding celebrities. We work here, and frankly we have no time for that kind of falderal.

**The Quibbler:**   I understand completely. Many of the letters ask if the Kind frighten you at all.

**Miss Brown:**   _[Laughs]_ I think I’ll let Katlyn answer that one.

**Miss Mclellen:**  We have nothing to be afraid of from any member of the Kind. They know us and we know them, they would never hurt us on purpose, and they are very careful of us when we’re close to them. _[The composed young girl sits attentively in her chair while we talk]._

**The Quibbler:**   Most of the questions for you, Katlyn, are more general, as in, how old are you, where did you grow up, what are your favorite things, and why aren’t you afraid of the dragons?

**Miss Mclellen:**  The last is the easiest. As I said, I have nothing to fear from them, and I never will. They are my friends, my family, and I trust them completely. What were the… oh yes. I’m just ten; the trip to the Special Presentation was my late birthday gift. We’re _[Her mother, father and herself]_ from Tarland in the Highlands. Dad worked at the Links before coming here and Mum worked in Accounting for a potioner. Now we’re living just off the reserve at the stock yard. My favorite things?   _[She ponders for several long moments.]_ I suppose my parents, Lavender and my friends among the Kind, especially Horatius _[The dragon to which she is Arouk]_ , and a rare steak. _[She and Miss Brown share a laugh.]_

**The Quibbler:**   Another question that was very frequent is for you, Lavender. _[Miss Brown looks at this reporter with interest.]_ Why aren’t you an Auror or Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor at Hogwarts?

**Miss Brown:**  I’ve been asked about both, repeatedly now, _[her demeanor becomes serious, an abrupt change that can take some that don’t know her by surprise]_ but I have fought and killed more than I ever wanted to in my life. Seamus has done more to secure a safe and free wizarding society than I ever could, he’s the real hero. Me? _[She shrugs her shoulders]_ I’m a good instructor I suppose. _[_ _In this reporters knowledgeable opinion, second to none]_  and I’m fairly fast with a wand _[an understatement of enormous magnitude]_ , but Seamus is a brilliant detective and just as good in a fight as I am. Professor Diggle is as fine of a defense instructor as one could ask; I would never presume to take his place.

**The Quibbler:**   Katlyn, what is your reaction to your sudden fame? Many of the letters want to know very personal and private details of your life, and for one so young this must be a concern for both you and your parents.

**Miss Mclellen:**  My dad reads all the letters first, just like Mr. Finnigan does for Lavender. A few he passes on to me to answer personally, some he answers himself, and a few go in the bin. They _[her parents and Miss Brown]_ decided that it was best if I stay away from that part of all this. I know those people want to know everything about me just like I wanted to know all about Lavender, but now I’m in her place I understand. I have my friends and my life here that’s just mine, and it’s best if it stays that way. We are a bit curious as to what will happen now when I go out in public, but Mum, Dad and Lavender will be there. _[Miss Brown practically glows with pride at her young apprentice’s answer]_

**The Quibbler:**   And at Hogwarts?

**Miss Brown:**  I’ve already spoken with the Headmistress, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Hagrid, and Professor Slughorn. They are ready to accept Katlyn and provide appropriate measures during full moon for everyone’s safety. She’ll be treated as any other student outside of that. Harry _[Potter]_ and I have talked about the whole fame problem, and he has given Kat some pointers on handling difficult people while at Hogwarts.

**The Quibbler:**   A popular question for the both of you is, “will there be a special presentation next year, and …”

**Miss Brown and Miss Mclellen:**  Yes.

**The Quibbler:**   _[Laughs]_ “And will Katlyn be a part of the show?”

**Miss Mclellen:**  We think so. It’s too early to say really, but I’d like to be, and Lavender is oaky with it.

**Miss Brown:** The more people see a member of the Kind interacting with Katlyn, the more they will understand them. Personally I’d like her to do the whole show, but Adam and Marion _[Miss Mclellen’s parents]_ nixed that. _[Laughs]_ And I almost got out of it, darn.

**Miss Mclellen:**  The biggest problem would be finding which member of the Kind that we would take along besides Dante, who really had a good time last week up until all the bad stuff. Lavender thinks it should be Antioch, but I think Brighid.

  **Miss Brown:** Antioch is an older Hebrideen and very calm, Brighid is a young Welshie and very excitable…

**Miss Mclellen:**  But she’d be great, Lavender. She’d love the people, and the excitement, and…

**Miss Brown:** _[Smiles at her apprentice]_ Yes, yes, I know. I’m just concerned about her being overly enthusiastic. You’ve seen how she gets.

**Miss Mclellen:**  We’ll be joined, we can calm her…

**Miss Brown:** You do realize that you will be just as excited as she is, and…

_[Both Miss Mclellen and Miss Brown stop and look at this reporter]_

**The Quibbler:**   Ah, remembered we’re doing an interview, did we?

**Miss Brown:** _[Laughs]_ P &*s off, Luna.

**The Quibbler:**   No, not yet. Lavender, many people are wondering about the investigation into your kidnappers. What can you tell us?

**Miss Brown:** Seamus has found that the five poaches that were killed violating the reserve grounds a few months ago were sent by Arnold Hax in pursuit of meat for his guests. The castle that I was taken to has been searched and some clues to Mr. Hax’s activities have been found. Miss Parkinson and her partner have uncovered a few other interesting bits, and the Aurors have all of Mr. Hax’s transaction records with Gringotts. It appears that most of his little club was there at the castle that night, so I don’t need to worry about another dinner invitation from them. 

**The Quibbler:**   I’m certain everyone will be happy to hear that. So the investigation is almost complete?

**Miss Brown:** A few more days, Seamus tells me. _[Auror Finnigan nods from his chair, and then he makes a smoke dragon chase a smoke hind around the hall]_  They are still identifying some of the… less fortunate members of Hax’s dinner club. The Kind were very angry. We only have teeth from a few of the guests, and we have to wait for the digestive process on three of them. _[She smirks]_ As I pointed out, it’s a very bad idea to anger the Kind.

**The Quibbler:** Indeed. 

**Miss Mclellen:**   _[looking at Miss Brown]_ We should make sure nobody tries to get into the reserve again. 

**Miss Brown:** Excellent point, Kat. The Dragon Friends would like the public to know that violating the reserve grounds is an invitation to a very short and uncomfortable life. The Kind are tolerant, but they have their limits, and one is territory. We’ll cover this in the next presentation, but suffice to say, they like their privacy, don’t annoy them.

**The Quibbler:** Succinctly put. Another common question is about daily life here at the reserve. What is a typical day like for you?

  **Miss Brown:** Well I’m a bit of a night owl so the schedule was most difficult for me to get used to initially. We rise with the sun because they do too. I get Shay out and off to the Ministry and then meet Kat here. 

**Auror Finnigan:** _[Laughs]_ Actually, I get lazy bones here up and then get off to the ministry. You wouldn’t see her before noon if she had her way. _[More laughter]_

**Miss Brown:** I’m trying to project an image here, Shay! _[There is no anger in her voice, and it is very obvious how much Miss Brown loves her fiancé. She huffs and rolls her eyes before turning to Miss Mclellen.]_

**Miss Mclellen:**  Mum works in the office doing the books now, so she Apparates us here after breakfast. 

**Miss Brown:** Then it depends on the day. Today our first stops were our principles, Kat went to Horatius and I went to Asgre. It easiest for us to ask them what the Kind feel is most important on any given day, and the four of us have a need for the companionship, for the link, so we go to them first most days. Today, after this, we’re off to see Hades.

**The Quibbler:** _[To Miss Mclellen]_ You go alone?

**Miss Mclellen:** Of course. _[A slightly mystified look crosses Miss Mclellens face]_  Horatius would defend me with his life. Anyway, Hades is a Ridgeback and he’s itching. Lavender says I might get to de-louse him if it’s what we think.

**Miss Brown:** Dragon pests are very nasty. The skin lice alone are terrifying.   _[Dragon lice are essentially the same as normal lice but seven inches long]_  That’s one of the Friends primary duties, keeping the kind free of lice and ticks. Hades has just shed, and that’s when they are especially susceptible to the lice. I’m teaching Katlyn some spells and wand technique involved, and she’s very eager to learn.

**The Quibbler:** She couldn’t have a better teacher. What are some of your other duties?

**Miss Mclellen:** We have a brooding female, her name is Gavina, she’s a Hebridean, and she only lets me or Lavender near her roost. She’s brooded now for close to 3 years and the eggs are near term. She conceived accidentally when a male Hebridean was visiting from the Scottish reserve. They are usually very careful about that but it seems they got carried away with their play during his visit. She has five eggs, and she lets Lavender and I watch them for her while she feeds.

**Miss Brown:** We are also teaching Katlyn the procedures for collecting blood, whiskers, and scales. Then there’s the dung.

**Miss Mclellen:** _[Pulls a face]_ it’s the worst job we have here, but everyone does it. We go to each roost every other day and check. If there’s a pile we collect it, you just don’t want to be downwind. Wheew. _[she waves her hand in front of her nose]_

**The Quibbler:** It sounds as if you work quite a lot.

**Miss Brown:** No more than everyone else really. I’d say the average is six to eight hours a day, although some days can be quite long. On the weekends we usually only go and see Asgre and Horatius unless one of the others wants or needs us.

**Miss Mclellen:** Well, Dante always wants to see us, but he and Brighid are the most playful so they end up in the common field all the time fake fighting. _[This reporter was privileged to witness one of these bouts. It is a very good thing that the Dragon Friends know these fights are not real as they are full of roars and shoving.]_ We see both of them almost every day, and I ride Dante almost as much as I ride Horatius.

**Miss Brown:** Kat is more at home in the air than on the ground I think. _[To Miss Mclellen]_ You’d fly all the time if we’d let you, wouldn’t you?

**Miss Mclellen:** Yes, I would, and so would you and you know it, Ka Arouk.

**Miss Brown:** _[Smiles]_ Don’t get cheeky, Ni Arouk.

**The Quibbler:** Well, that leads to our last question this session. Those terms you just used, how did they come about?

**Miss Mclellen:** Dante called me Ni Arouk when we were on the pitch at the Special Presentation. It just means young or new Arouk. Ka Arouk means older, teacher, master Arouk, and you already know how Arouk came about.

  _[Miss Mclellen smiles knowingly at this reporter who was present at the reserve that first night after Miss Brown’s abduction. It was also the first night of the full moon and the first night that Miss Mclellen was allowed to forego the potion and fully realize her werewolf form. There was a brief and quite intense argument between Miss Brown and Mrs. Mclellen about the use of the wolfs bane potion on Miss Mclellen. It ended in tears and hugs between Miss Brown and Mrs. Mclellen who are now a formidable team in the upbringing of Miss Mclellen._

_Miss Brown, in her werewolf form, is three and a half feet tall at the shoulder and covered in light tan fur, Miss Mclellen in hers is just shy of three feet and nearly white with deep red streak from her head to halfway down her back. After the change their respective principle dragons brought the two of them together. There was a bit of tension between the two for a few seconds, and then they began to play, all of them, dragon and werewolf._

_The Dragon Friends had prepared an experiment with the consent of Miss Mclellen and Miss Brown. A yearling steer was released from the compound, and the two werewolves gave chase. The dragon Horatius dove on the steer as it ran from the two canines, swooping down and nearly taking the steer before rising back up and circling for another pass. When the steer began to flag, the dragon landed and vocalized. The dragon Horatius very clearly said “Arouk ark.” We now believe that is a command to kill and eat the prey. After Miss Brown and Miss Mclellen had dispatched the steer we were treated to the pair howling._

_The Howl of the werewolf is a beautiful, haunting, and powerful sound, and it is rarely heard. The closest approximation of the sound that person could make would be to yell as loudly as possible, AAAARRROOOUUUUK._

~*~

The fat man with thinning hair folded the Quibbler and smiled at his daughter. She set her own copy on the table. “They don’t suspect,” he said, satisfied.

“It’s good we weren’t there yet,” she replied.

“We’ll get our chance again, Missy, don’t worry,” he said.

The plump young woman nodded and smiled at her father. “It’ll be a pleasure to know the taste, but it’ll be even better because it’ll be that stuck up Gryffindor bitch.”

“You never liked her, I remember in your letters home she occasionally featured prominently.”

“She’s a slag and an arrogant cunt,” the young woman said. “If we’re lucky we might even get to eat that little abomination too.”

“Just like your mother was,” The older man said smiling with pride. “One thing at a time, Missy. One thing at a time.”

~*~

 

Luna set the copy of the Quibbler on the table in the common hall. “Do you think they will be taken in by the subterfuge?” she asked Seamus.

“Aye, I do,” he said smiling to her. “Haven’t met one yet that wasn’t an overconfident idiot. No they think they’re Scott free now. All we need to do now is have a little chat with the surviving kidnappers. Pansy, Parvati, Harry and Ron did an outstanding job of tracking them down and finding out their real names. All I had to do was a few nights’ surveillance and intelligence gathering.”

“So when do we go visit Cobblestone and the others?” Lavender asked.

“Feel like a date at the pub tomorrow night, love?” Seamus asked with a devious smile.

 


	14. The Atonement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do not annoy the dragons... or the Arouks.

All’s Fair

The Atonement

 

A snifter of whiskey and a pint of beer made soft knocks as they were set on the table the man was staring at and not seeing, his brandy forgotten in his hand. A glass of wine followed, and he looked up into a pair of bright green eyes he had seen before.

“Good evening, Cobblestone,” Lavender said. “Or should I say Marlin. No, I think John.”

He made to rise from his chair but Seamus’ firm hand shoved him back down. “Ah, no,” he said. “Please.”

“Here to finish the job?” he asked, dejectedly.

Lavender laughed, sat in one of the chairs, and laid her hand on his. “If I wanted to kill you, John, you’d be dead.”

“No, Marlin,” Seamus said as he sat. “We’re just here to talk. Answer right and you get to go on your way.”

John Marlin smiled at Lavender and Seamus. “Anything you want.” He looked into Lavender’s eyes and his expression changed to one of deep remorse. “I’m so, so …”

She smiled. “Shhh, you already did that. I have a soft spot for my students, John. You’re forgiven.”

“Thank you.”

“Aye, well now that’s out of the way, Lavender said your pal, Anthony said Hax had an employer,” Seamus said. “You wouldn’t happen to have a name to go with that, would you?”

“Wow, I never… how did you find our names?”

“You first,” Seamus said.

“I don’t know,” Marlin said. He’s a quite large man and his daughter is on her way to being the same.

“Describe,” Seamus said in his Auror voice.

“Okay, well he’s six feet at least and perhaps three hundred pounds, she’s a bit shorter, your age, my height, plump, black hair, face like a frog…”

“Mustache,” Lavender whispered.

Marlin looked surprised. “Yeah? how…”

“Millicent Bulstrode,” Lavender said, disgusted. “Missy and I have… history.”

Seamus snorted and chuckled.

“Bad thing for her, I’m suspecting,” Marlin said.

Lavender just nodded.

“How much do you know about Hax’s little club?” Seamus asked.

“Only saw them once.” He looked down in shame. “They… they had us capture a centaur. She was so young.” A few tears slipped from his eyes. “I wanted out then, but Carl and Hax, they threatened us all. Said there were still Death Eater friends of theirs out there, and… and.”

“It’s okay,” Seamus said. “We get the idea. This Carl, which one is he.”

“He’s the one that was leading us when… well you fried him with _Electrium_ ,” he said looking at Lavender. She shrugged.

“So your pal, Anthony and his friend Nickels, they’re not true believers either?”

Marlin looked at Seamus in wonder.

Seamus laughed and tapped his chest. “Auror with Auror friends. We’re good. It’s all about the money, really. You can’t hide anything from Pansy Parkinson and Parvati Patil when it comes to finance. They found you through your deposits pretty quick. Your buddy Anthony thought he was being smart dividing it up and putting it in different accounts.” Seamus chuckled. “They found him first, no more than two days, then you, then Nickels. We questioned rather thoroughly your man, James.” At Marlins confused look he added, “The inside man, the one that stunned the guards at the pitch entrance?” Seamus raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know that part? Hmm, interesting. Well, the end of it is  Harry, Ron, and I’ve been watching you for almost a month now. So, where do your friends stand?”

Marlin nodded. “Yeah, wow, um, no, they’re not bad guys.” he turned to Lavender. “Tim Anthony and David Nickels are good men in a bad spot. Like me. We’re not in such straights anymore ‘cause of you, but we were, and that’s how they got us.”

Lavender nodded. “I understand how that can happen, don’t worry.” 

Just then the small bell over the door rang as two men entered, and Seamus and Lavender disappeared behind a _Disillusion_ charm. The two men looked around the pub and their eyes settle on Marlin. He looked back at Anthony and Nickels with a surprised expression.

“Invited them to the party, hope you don’t mind,” Seamus’ voice said from his chair.

The two men hurried over to Marlin. “What the bloody hell did you bring us here for, John?” Nickels asked.

A vase appeared on the table. “Be good lads and put your wands in the vase if you please,” Seamus’ voice said.

Marlin looked at his friends. “They’re both sitting right here, you should do it,” he said as he put his own wand in the vase.

The two men pulled their wands from their robes and placed them in the vase. Two empty chairs slid across the pub and settled in front of the small table. “Have a seat,” Seamus said as he dispelled the _Disillusion_. The two men looked at Seamus in surprise and then Lavender with real fear on their faces. Seamus sniggered. “We’ve just been having some good craic with John here, glad you could join us.”

Tim Anthony looked at Lavender. “We left you and the dragon alive, remember?”

“That I do, Tim,” she said with a smile for him. “Please, sit.”

The two men took their chairs and Seamus waved the barmaid over. “Another Murphy’s for me, a red for me fiancé, and whatever these three gentlemen want,” he told her.

“Certainly, sir” she said as she looked at him and then turned to Lavender. “Any particular red… miss… Brown,” She finished in an awed whisper.

Lavender smiled at her. “The house is fine,” she said tapping her glass.

The waitress shook the stunned expression from her face. “Very good, miss.” She said, and smiled back at Lavender and Seamus. “And this is your waitress being discreet.” She turned to the three other men at the table and took their orders then walked back to the bar without drawing any attention to her now rather famous clientele.

“Well, she’ll be getting a good tip,” Seamus said, and then he looked at the new arrivals. “John here has helped quite a bit, but we’d still like to know everything you know about Hax and his employer. We know he’s Bulstrode, anyone else involved?”

Marlin laughed at his friend’s stunned faces. “We were in so far over our heads we didn’t even know how deep, boys. They’ve got us. Tell him everything you know.”

Nickels looked at Seamus. “Alex Bulstrode is a right bastard. He and Carl threatened my wife, my kids, me, and he made me recruit my friends here. The more he suffers the better I’ll like it.”

Anthony nodded. “We were mostly coerced into this, but I won’t lie and say the money had nothing to do with it.”

“Thanks, Tim,” Lavender said. “Honesty goes a long way with us.” She smiled at him. “Gryffindor you know.” He nodded.

“Got any idea where Bulstrode is?” Seamus asked.

“Not a clue,” Anthony said. “He and Hax mostly dealt with Carl Latimer, one of the men you…”

“I know,” Lavender said nodding.

“Yeah, well Hax would tell Latimer what he wanted and where to get it, then Latimer would organize a team. Sent three into the reserve to get a dragon, and they never came back so he sent me and two more. When I got back and told him getting a dragon out of the reserve was impossible he was furious.”

“When all this is over,” Lavender said to Anthony. “I’ll want you to come back to the reserve with me and show the Dragon Friends how you got through the wards.” At his incredulous look she laughed. “Don’t worry, you’ll be with me.”

“O… Okay,” he said. “Yeah, so after that he and Hax were in a right state. Then the announcement came out about the Special Presentation and they thought they had hit the jackpot. Bulstrode and his daughter have been after werewolf for years, but after the war the registry got lost so no one knew were you all lived.”

Seamus laughed. “Lost is a bit of a miss,” he said, and winked at the men. “It’s in Harry’s desk. He took it from that whore, Umbridge’s office two days after the battle, and we didn’t see it again until he came to work with us. Said it was a duty to Lupin to keep it safe, he did, looks like he was right.”

“He was,” David Nickels put in, looking at Lavender. “That ugly bitch practically danced when she found out it was you, Carl told us.”

“Missy Bulstrode is in for one hell of a fucking surprise,” Lavender said. Her growl and feral grin made chills run down Tim Anthony’s spine.

“So, Tim you know how we could contact Bulstrode,” Seamus asked.

“Maybe, maybe,” He said thoughtfully. “Carl had a way, sort of a chain; he told a fella who told a fella…”

Seamus smiled at the men across from him. “Well lads, here’s the deal. You cooperate with us, you play along, help us set the trap, and you go free. You don’t, well it’s a trial, and publicity, and Azkaban. What’ll it be?”

~*~

“They have information on when the werewolf bitch and the abomination are going to Diagon Alley, Missy.”

The smile only made her look ugly _and_ insane. “Papa, I want her, for me. I want to be the one.”

“Too dangerous, Missy,” the old man said sternly. “No they have a better plan this time. They’ll get the little one and draw the Gryffindor whore to us.”

“I can’t wait to see the look on her face.”

 

~*~

“They responded,” David Nickels said.

“Good, you sold it well, Tim.” Seamus looked at the burly man and smiled. “I’ve been talking with the Minister about you three. He’s interested in forming a team, men who aren’t Aurors, men without certain _legal_ restrictions, men who can go unnoticed; you lads.”

“What would he want us to do?” John Marlin asked.

“Mostly listen,” Seamus said. “We’ve had men inside before, but they’ve been… unreliable. You fellas, well you’re different.” He smiled at the three men. “Just keep an ear out for trouble. You hear something, contact me. We’ll take it from there.” he nodded to himself. “So, with Bulstrode, tell him you’ll be able to get Katlyn Mclellen four days from now.”

“You’re going to give him the girl?” Tim Anthony said in surprise.

Seamus chuckled. “Not really. More like the other way round”

~*~

The suite was very posh, but Missy Bulstrode didn’t care. Her mind was whirling with possibilities, and she barely noticed the extravagance around her. They would have the little abomination tonight, and with careful planning they could trap Brown. Gods she hated that bitch. It all started the first day of first year. The pretty blonde girl had introduced herself and asked if she could help Missy with her makeup and clothes. She had never forgiven that insult, and from then on she had hated Lavender with a passion. Her easy friendships with the other girls, her excelling in charms, second only to the impossibly brainy Mudblood, her courage in forth year wrestling the skrewts, and the looks she got from all the boys after fifth had made Missy hate her to her very core. Now her victory was in sight. They would have the other one in a few hours, and surely the Gryffindor bitch would come for her.

Her father hadn’t been to the old manor house on the Cotswold’s since the end of the war. To dangerous, he had said. But for tonight they had made an exception. The acquisition team would meet them there and had over the girl just before dusk. Missy smiled. They had been there earlier in the week preparing the cage. It would easily hold a ten year old wandless girl and the wolf she would become. Then she would have the bitch

 ~*~

Tim Anthony, John Marlin, and David Nickels waited behind their shields for the buyers. Katlyn Mclellen stood silently next to them, a simple pair of Muggle handcuffs binding her wrists.

“Six o clock,” David said as he looked at his watch. The snap of _Apparition_ alerted them to the arrival of the Bulstrodes. They reinforced their shields and watched the pair approach.

“Good evening Orthenbe,” Alex Bulstrode said as he stopped in front of them. He smirked at the shields. “Don’t trust us?”

“No,” Tim Anthony said flatly.

Bulstrode laughed. “Fair enough. I see you have our prize. Your pay is right here,” he said as he pulled a large bag from a deep pocket in his robes.

“The shield will let it through,” Tim said. “Toss it over.”

Bulstrode smiled. “Fine, fine. I hadn’t planed on a double cross anyway. Here’s your galleons, ten thousand as agreed.” He lightly threw the bag through the shield, and it landed in from of Nickels.

David bent and retrieved the bag. He took a step away from his friends and opened it. “ _Finite Incantatem!_  he said as he swept the interior of the bag, and then, _“Arum Veritas.”_ He nodded to his friends. “It’s real and it’s all there.”

“Over you go,” Tim said and nudged Katlyn in the back with his wand. Millicent Bulstrode grabbed Katlyn’s arm roughly and drug her to her father’s side. “We are finished, Bulstrode,” Tim told him. “Contact me again and I’ll turn you over to the Aurors, have me hurt or killed and my backups go off. You don’t want that.”

“You’ve done everything we wanted, Orthenbe. I’ve no complaints.” Bulstrode sighed. “I do wish you would reconsider, though. Finding another team will be difficult and expensive.”

“We’re done. Goodbye,” David said and the three men _Disaparated._

Millicent looked greedily and Katlyn and the young girl recoiled in disgust. “Oh, how long I’ve waited,” she said, and laughed at Katlyn’s expression. “Oh don’t worry. We’ll be having you later. It’s the bitch we want tonight.” She tightened her grip on Katlyn’s arm and _Apparated_ them.

They reappeared in the front drive of an old manor house. The windows were dark in the deepening gloom and Millicent lit her wand as she led Katlyn up the small set of steps to the front door. Her father appeared a moment later and followed them into the house. He stopped just inside the door and tied a note to an owl. It hooted obediently and departed. Millicent dragged Katlyn along the hall, and through several rooms, until they came to a doorway. The stairs behind the door lead down to the cellar of the house. An old boiler sat in the middle of the large room the seemed to go on in every direction, and a cage four feet on a side and floor to ceiling sat bolted to the floor a few feet from the bottom of the stairs.

“In,” Millicent said and shoved Katlyn into the cage, and locked the door. A blanket and a bowl sat in the otherwise empty cage. Katlyn picked up the blanket, and, ungracefully because of her cuffed hands, wrapped it around herself.

“She’s a quiet one,” Alex Bulstrode said as he looked at Katlyn. The red headed girl glared back at him but said nothing. “Be on your best behavior, you little monster or we’ll do to you what we did to the other bitches family.”

Katlyn’s eyes lit with surprise and then a palpable hatred.

“Yes, it was me had it done,” Millicent said. “That perfect bitch, how she deserved it, always so superior, so pretty, ugh.” She shuddered. “They told me that her sisters screamed and pleaded while they tortured them.” Her smile made Katlyn turn away in disgust. “I wish I could have been there.”

“It wasn’t all you, Missy,” Alex Bulstrode said. “I had to arrange it and pay the bill, but He was happy to allow it though. It made the Dark Lord smile. Andrew Brown was a pure blood but he married that Mudblood slag. They got what they deserved.” The fat man grinned at the memory.

“Ugh,” Katlyn said, and doubled over. She covered herself with the blanket as she dropped to the floor.

“The change!” Millicent said and clapped her hands in glee.

~*~

 

An owl swooped down and landed on a fence railing a few feet away and lifted his leg to Lavender. She unwrapped the note and stroked the owl’s feathers. “You can stay here,” she told the large eagle owl. “They won’t be needing an owl.” She chuckled and then started to laugh as she read the note. With a smile she wadded it in a ball, tossed it in the air, and _Incedioed_ it.

Moments later a silver ball swooped down out of the sky and resolved into Seamus’ fox patronus. It opened its mouth and spoke in Seamus’ voice. “Lavender my love, I have some information for you, and you’re not going to like it…”

~*~

Grunts and growls came from the lump under the blanket as Missy Bulstrode looked on with an expression of lustful greed. The blanket swelled and bulged, then a shoe tumbled across the floor of the cage. The two Bulstrodes were looking at the small black pedal pusher when the blast of red light hit them.

“It’s not sundown yet you two shit for brains arseholes,” Seamus said as he threw off the blanket and summoned their wands. He gave an extra stunner to Alex Bulstrode just to be sure, and then turned to Millicent. “I was going to plead for you a bit if you showed any remorse,” he told her as she moaned on the floor. “But that was afore your little confession. _Expecto Patronum!”_

Seamus was seething in lake of fury. He vanished the cage and walked across the floor to stand over the two Bulstrodes. He kicked Millicent savagely in the side and stunned her again. “You fucking stupid fucking whore. You remeber I told you I wouldn’t fuck you with Malfoy’s cock, yeah? Well now I’m taking that back. Even he’s too nice a guy to suffer that.” He clenched his fists in fury. “She blamed herself. For fucking years she blamed herself, and it was you all along.” He kicked Alex Bulstrode so hard he heard ribs crack. “If I hadn’t taken her wand… That first night after she found out…” He kicked the older man again.

“Yeah, I was going to talk her out o’ it.” He spat at Millicent. “Now, now I’m going to watch.”

 

  ~*~

 

They appeared in the common field accompanied by a loud crack. Seamus levitated his two bound prisoners to the port box, opened the door and followed them inside. “Asgre,” he said in a low growl. A light rain was falling at Agre’s lair when he levitated Alex and Millicent Bulstrode out of the port box. Asgre paced in front of the opening to her cave while Horatius stood a several yards away, Katlyn sat on one of paws. Lavender paced with Asgre, matching her stride for stride, and Seamus could feel the fury in the air.

“ _Finite!”_ he said and the ropes around the Bulstrodes vanished. “ _Evenerate!”_ he followed, and the two stirred and got to their feet.

“You can’t do this,” Alex Bulstrode protested, and Asgre stomped forward, Silencing him with a growl.

“Personally, I’d shut the bloody fuck up if I were you,” Seamus said with gritted teeth.

Katlyn placed her hand on Horatius’ side, closed her eyes, and spoke in a commanding voice. “Humans, we smell the evil on you. You have feasted on the Kind, you have feasted on our magical brethren, the centaurs, you have feasted on griffin, you are beyond redemption.”

“We…” Millicent tried. Asgre’s tail slammed down feet from her, and she screamed as she leapt sideways.

“This is not a conversation,” Katlyn continued. “You have taken the Ka Arouk from us, and you intended to feast on her too. You will not be allowed to continue.” She opened her eyes and stepped away from Horatius and toward Lavender. 

The sun winked one last time on the horizon and the sky turned the color of blood. All throughout Horatius’ lecture through Katlyn, Lavender had been silent, pacing. She turned and stared at Millicent. Daggers of hate were in her eyes, and Millicent recoiled in fear.

“The Ka Arouk is far too angry to talk.” Missy Bulstrode looked back into the unsympathetic eyes of Katlyn Mclellen as she spoke. “You took the Ka Arouk’s family from her. You made plans to take me from my family and my friends. You have offended the Kind. You have offended the Arouks, and you are found wanting by the White Father.”

Katlyn took Lavender’s hand for a moment, an expression of deep compassion on her face, and then walked back to Horatius. Asgre wrapped Lavender in her wings as the first rays of moonlight broke the eastern horizon.

“This is where you run,” Seamus said furiously as he stood from his seat on a rock nearby. The two Bulstrodes just stared at him. In a flash, pulled his wand, and fired a blaster into the ground a few feet from them. “RUN! You stupid arseholes.”

The sounds of the change could be heard from inside the walls of Asgre and Horatius’ wings. With expressions of stark terror on their faces, Alex and Millicent Bulstrode pelted away into the night. Asgre and Horatius unwrapped their wings from the two werewolves, and the canines shook the remaining water from their fur. Lavender sniffed the air and her head snapped in the direction the Bulstrodes had run. She made to follow when Horatius spoke.

“Ka Arouk, ta,” He said, and Lavender stopped and looked up at him. “Ka Arouk, hen ta. Ni Arouk, hen ko.” Lavender growled angrily, but Horatius held firm. “Ka Arouk, hen ta!” Lavender bowed her head. Horatius then looked at Seamus, and the Irishman could almost feel the smile in his voice when the dragon said, “Arouk ark.”

The two werewolves sped into the night after the fleeing shapes in the moonlight. As they caught up with Millicent and her father they split and passed them on either side, then stopped and confronted them. The Bulstrodes were slowly backing up when Lavender jumped forward and growled. Alex Bulstrode turned and ran as fast as his three hundred pound body would let him. Millicent stood rooted. Her father had abandoned her. Katlyn stalked toward her, and Millicent turned to run. The young werewolf pounced and tore three fingers from Millicent’s left hand as she fled.

Millicent held her hand to her chest and screamed as she ran, and Seamus smirked. He, Asgre, and Horatius watched the two Arouks chase their prey across the field in the moonlight. Lavender caught Alex Bulstrode by the heal and tripped him. When he hit the ground she was already on top of him. Her rear claws opened his enormous belly, spilling his intestines, and then his screams of pain were silenced as she bit completely through his neck. There was a gurgle and then nothing.

Katlyn, Seamus noticed, liked to play with her quarry. She nipped and bit at Millicent as she ran, chasing her willy-nilly around the common field. When Millicent tripped and fell Katlyn grabbed her right arm with her powerful jaws, and she drug along the turf her until Millicent pulled free and began to run again. Katlyn waited a few moments for Millicent to gain some distance and then she was off again, a white red streak in the silver light. The young werewolf was thoroughly enjoying herself, Seamus observed, as she tackled Millicent again and took her entire left arm off below the elbow. The portly woman howled in pain as she rolled on the ground.

“Ni Arouk, ark,” Horatius called, and Katlyn stalked purposely toward Millicent as she tried to crawl away. It took almost three minutes for Millicent to die of the mauling. Katlyn tore at her, ripping a piece from her body and then tearing off another. Hands, chunks of flesh, bits of her insides all flew from the scene of the carnage Katlyn visited upon the Slytherin woman. She continued tearing at her for several minutes after her last shuddering breath.

Lavender appeared out of the gloom and walked to Asgre’s side. Seamus cast _Aguamenti_ and shot a fountain of water near Lavender. She took the opportunity and pranced in the shower, washing the blood from her fur. A few moments later Katlyn joined her.

 

  ~*~

 

“Yeah, Horatius was right,” Seamus said. “It was best that he gave you Alex and Kat Missy, fitting really.” He turned and looked at Katlyn with a smile. “You are a vicious little bitch, you know that, right?”

“Whatever I did they earned,” Katlyn said flatly, and then smiled at Seamus. “And they earned a lot.”

 

 

 

 


	15. The Case

_A/N Well this one gave me fits. I knew what I wanted but it fought me. I’ve got it at last, though. One more chapter of Seamus doing his Auror thing and then Kat and Lavender are back._

 

 

 

All’s Fair

The Case

 

Seamus gripped his wand and silently crept down the hall. Voices came from a closed room a few doors down, and he recognized one of them. Theodore Nott. The battle smile that formed on his face meant nothing good for Theodore and the other people that the voices belonged to.

 

~(*)~

“Auror Finnigan, to what do I owe the pleasure?” the minister asked.

Seamus set his ministry ID and his wand on the desk before him, and then looked up into Minister Shacklebolt’s curious face. “A little confession, Minister,” Seamus said. “Mam says it’s good for the soul.”

Kingsley Shacklebolt chuckled in his deep baritone. “I have a feeling I know what you’re on about, but do go ahead.”

Seamus smirked. Getting one over on Kingsley was not easy, but he was confident the minister didn’t know about his, Katlyn, and Lavender’s previous evening. “The Bulstrodes are dead,” he said flatly and without preamble.

The Minister looked mildly surprised. “I’m heartbroken,” Kingsley deadpanned. “How did this tragedy happen?”

And so Seamus told the minister everything, the polyjuice, masquerading as Katlyn, the confessions of the Bulstrodes, the dragons, the events in the common field, all of it. “…And so that’s me tale,” he said, concluding. “Here’s me credentials, you want Harry and Ron to come take me in?”

“Why on earth would I want to do that?” the minister said with a bemused smile. “You apprehended a pair of wanted fugitives, murderers, and they tried to escape.” He laughed. “I seem to recall your fiancé saying something about not annoying the dragons. I suppose this is proof.” Then he was suddenly serious. “Mr. Finnigan, you and your fiancé and her apprentice did society a great favor. I understand it was a one-time occurrence. Make sure it stays that way. File a report stating that you apprehended them, and they tried to escape at the Dragon reserve, are we clear?”

“As glass, Minister.”

“Excellent,” the Minister said. “Now, there is the small matter of your fiancé and her apprentice’s actions. This… favor I am doing them? It comes with a proviso that they return it at some point.” At Seamus’ bemused look he added. “A small favor, the littlest of things.”

 

Seamus chuckled. The use of that phrase triggered a deep memory from his Muggle grandfather. The minster’s lineage contained a Sicilian Ambogine, leader of the wizarding branch of the Cose Nostra; Seamus’ contained Sinn Féinin one instance, and his grandfather was a leader in the Freney gang. “Faticie,” he said with a bow, and the minister smiled recognizing the traditional “as you wish”. “Mar atá sé” the minister replied with a chuckle. “Dismissed”

 

~(*)~

 

Five days after the full moon Seamus returned to the Bulstrode mansion in the Cotswold’s, Harry, Ron, Cho, and Demelza accompanying him. Cho and Demelza were a constant team, they had gone through the academy together and Robards had kept them together after. They were the most effective crime scene analysts in the department, and Seamus had insisted they be assigned to the case. He’d been right. 

The secret door in the dining room had opened onto a magically enlarged chamber that had held a variety of dark artifacts, books and potions in the shelves lining the wall. The rest of the room was a large ceremonial space that hummed with the echo of the evil done there. The revelation spell had produced more than 20 instances of murder, and Seamus had thought then that Alex Bulstrode had got off light. A small box on one shelf had proved to be the most valuable even though it only contained papers.

Those documents had given the names and addresses of more than fifty of Riddle’s supporters. Many were on the Killed in Battle list, but some were not. The papers provided the means of breaking through the Fidelius and Unplottable charms that had been cast around the residences. The Nott family lived outside of Liverpool.

~(*)~

He watched the house for almost two weeks before he saw any activity. Then four days ago people began to arrive. The first were Mr. and he supposed Mrs. Nott. Then one by one the children, three in all, had come. He waited until he was sure they were having dinner and then he made his move.

Seamus silently broken the wards and crept into the house through a basement window. After the _Homenum Revelio_ had placed all the occupants of the house in one wing he had disillusioned himself and climbed the stairs to the third floor. A thin woman with greying hair, the same woman that arrived with Nott senior, stepped from a room just as he placed his foot on the landing. A silencing charm, a stunner, and a full body bind in rapid succession had the woman back in her room bound and unconscious on the bed. Seamus looked her over and reaffirmed his opinion that she was Theodore’s mother or aunt from the resemblance.

Theodore Nott. Seamus remembered him. A pure blood and proud of it, he was the least obnoxious of the “true believers” as Pansy called them. He was also smarter than the rest, and that was no comfort. The _Revelio_ charm had indicated five. One was down in the bedroom and that left only four. Not the best odds, but Seamus knew he had surprise and that was worth everything. An elf appeared outside the door and turned toward Seamus with a puzzled expression. Seamus dropped a small button on the floor and slid it to the elf. The elf saw the button appear as it hit the floor and watched as it silently moved to his feet. Emblazoned in red on the black button were the letters S.P.E.W. The little person smiled and bowed to him, and then he entered the room and delivered his tray of drinks without a word.

When the elf exited the dining room he once again turned to Seamus and winked. He disaparated with a pop, and Seamus crept forward. The elf had left the door ajar. _Thanks little fella, I’ll be sure and get you a position at Hogwarts when this is over,_ Seamus thought. He could now clearly hear the conversation in the room.

“But we are the superior ones,” a male voice said.

An older man spoke. “Thaddeus that time has passed. I was in his inner circle, and they are all gone but Lucius, Alex, and me, do you know why that is?”

“Because that pedophile Alex Bulstrode can hide like no other, Lucius Malfoy is the world’s greatest weasel, and you were smart enough not to go to Hogwarts at all that night, and you kept us here too,” Thaddeus replied. ”We’ve hidden from wizarding society for five years.”

“Exactly,” the elder Nott continued. “You three professed, and I think partially believed, in his ideals.” There was a long pause. “My children, I never did. I joined because of McCulber. He was my best friend, and I’m afraid he lead me quite far astray.”

“But father…” Theodore’s voce said.

“Did you never wonder why I expressly forbid you to use any unforgivables even after HE said we could?”

“Yes,” the two sons said in unison and feminine voice hummed her assent.

 “We have a family secret; that’s why you are here tonight. This has to end, our hiding, and there is really no reason for it anyway. We were guilty by association, and I did things in his service I’m not proud of, but it ends now. Theodore, Thaddeus, Mary, my father was a half blood. Your great grandmother was Muggle.”

There was the sound of stunned stuttering from the room. Seamus smiled and crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. _Well, this is interesting_.

“But, but Mama Nott…” The girl said.

“Was my step grandmother,” the older man finished. “You actual great grandmother was named Martha Anderson, a Scottish muggle from Edinburg. You look very much like her, Mary.”

“But why have you never told us this?” Theodore asked. 

“It was our station, our circle, our business, I couldn’t, and from the moment he came to power again we were trapped. After his first fall I thought we could just let it be. Then that diseased filth rose from the grave to haunt us again.”

“That’s why you let your left arm burn all that night!” Thaddeus said.

The old man laughed. “I was never happier than when I felt it cease, and not just because of the agony. That’s when I knew he was finally dead, finally gone. I know you think Malfoy the younger was a complete arse, Theodore, but he knows more than you ever will about what that evil bastard could do. That poor sod… Thank the gods for Potter.”

“Well that is just the most interesting story I’ve heard in a long time,” Seamus said as he stepped into the room and summoned their wands. He dispelled the disillusion and introduced himself. “Hey, Theo,” he said brightly to his classmate. “

“Finnigan,” Theodore breathed in a terrified whisper.

“Evening Mr. Nott, Mary, Thaddeus, Seamus Finnigan, Auror. Please, continue, I was enjoying your tale.”

“Found at last, are we?” Mr. Nott said smiling. “Auror Finnigan is it? Please have a seat and join us. DELPH!”

The elf that Seamus saw in the hallway appeared in the room.

“Yes, Master?” The elf asked.

“Wine for our guest,” the elder Nott said and turned to Seamus. “Have you had dinner yet?”

“A stakeout sandwich a few hours ago, I could eat,” Seamus replied with a smile.

“Another plate and setting, Delph,” the older man told the elf. He turned back to Seamus as the elf disaparated. “We might as well have one more good meal before you arrest us.”

“Well, that was my intent when I came here, that is if you didn’t make arrest a moot point as most of your friends have,” Seamus told Mr. Nott.

The man laughed. “They’re not my friends.”

“Aye, so I heard,” Seamus said as he took a seat in the chair farthest from the three Notts. “Do go on.”

“I was nearly finished, actually,” Mr. Nott said. He looked back at his grown children. “It’s time we joined the twenty-first century. Look at Potter, you knew him Theodore, he’s half blood and defeated the most powerful and evil dark wizard ever to have lived. And his friend, Grainger?” he looked at Theodore intently. “Knew her too didn’t you?”

“Yes, yes father, I did,” Theodore said, and Seamus was having a little trouble deciding what emotion was in Theodore’s voice. It sounded like admiration, disappointment and …love? _Well, Theo, got a thing for Hermione, do we?_ Seamus thought.

“And you still think we are superior to,” he turned and smirked at Seamus. “Muggleborns?”

“Missy, Pansy, all the girls hated her so, I was just… I couldn’t see past it then. I do now.”

Mr. Nott nodded. “So, Auror Finnigan, how’d you find us?” he asked.

“Alex Bulstrode’s address box,” Seamus said as he took a sip of wine.

Mr. Nott’s face lit with glee. “Caught that bastard?”

Seamus shrugged. “No, Lavender did,” he said and chuckled. The Notts looked mystified for a few moments and then Theodore put it together, and his eyes flew wide. Seamus nodded to him with a grim smile. 

“And Missy?” Theodore asked in a sad whisper.

Seamus went from jovial to menacing in a single heartbeat. “Did you know?” he asked in a low growl.

Theodore stared at his shoes under the table. “After. She bragged.”

“Bragged about what?” Mr. Nott asked.

Seamus gave a curt nod to Theodore. “During seventh year Missy asked her dad to have Brown’s family killed. He arranged it with Scabior,” Theodore said dejectedly. “I wasn’t a fan of Brown’s but she didn’t deserve that.” He looked at Seamus. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I… I…”

“Not your fault, Theo,” Seamus said flatly. “If you’d have known beforehand, it’d be another story. As it is, you won’t be seeing Missy Bulstrode again.”

Theodore nodded and looked sad at the loss of his friend, and then he shook his head and smiled gloomily at Seamus. “I’m sorry. Missy brought it on herself… She, she just hated Brown so much! I never understood it.”

“I do,” Mary Nott said. “She was jealous. Really, Theodore, it’s not that complicated. She was as ugly as they come and Brown is beautiful. I had to deal with the same thing during my time at Hogwarts.” She smiled.

Seamus nodded. “Yeah we all heard stories about Theo’s beautiful older sister,” he said, and then grinned at Mary Nott. “It seems they were accurate.”

“Thank you, Auror Finnigan,” Mary Nott said. She looked puzzled for a moment “Where’s Aunt Imelda?” she asked her father.

“Sleeping off a stunner in her bedroom,” Seamus told her. A roar of laughter came from the man at the end of the table, and Seamus looked at Mr. Nott with a bemused smile of his own. “You think me stunning… ah, your sister!”

Tears of mirth slowly dripped from Mr. Nott’s eyes as he struggled to regain his composure. “Don’t… ha, ha… don’t mistake…” he said as he fought his laughter. “I love my sister, but… Ha!” and he was helpless again.

Mary leaned over toward Seamus. “Aunt Imelda is older by three years and she tortured father mercilessly when they were children.”

Seamus smiled broadly at the older man. “Well, glad I could even the score a bit. Got a bastard of a brother meself.” He toasted Mr. Nott with his wine glass and set it on the table. “So, Mr. Nott you say you never used an unforgivable?”

Alfred Nott quieted almost immediately, and his expression was one Seamus knew only too well. It was the visage of a man who has had to do things he had never dreamt of in his worst nightmares, and who avoided even worse things at great cost to his soul. Seamus knew that expression so well because he sometimes saw it in the mirror.

“Never once, but others, oh yes, I have used others,” he sighed. “I’m not innocent, Auror Finnigan.”

Seamus snorted. “No one is.” He gazed at the older man across the table from him. “We’ll be doing _priori_ on your wands, you know that?” Seamus asked without needing an answer. “If it shows you all are _mostly_ innocent the minister will probably decline to charge you. That said, we will want to know everything you’ve done the last seven years.”

The Notts nodded in unison, and Mary Nott smiled at him. “I, for one, know you won’t find anything untoward, and I just want to tell you, Auror Finnigan, your fiancé is an inspiration. Her condition is unimportant, and should never have been an issue,” she finished in a haughty voice. “I will admit I did harbor the pure blood prejudices… up until, well, very recently. They have been fading for a long time though.” She looked into infinity. “I think it started bothering me when I read Grainger’s opinion pieces in the Quibbler that first year after the war. She’s so…”

“Blindingly feckin brilliant,” Seamus finished for her. “Try sharing classes with her,” he said with a laugh.

“I thought we were dead,” Theodore said in a low whisper.

Seamus chuckled. “Frankly I did too; haven’t had to call for the sheriffs in a while. Usually it’s been a short fire fight and the coroner.”

“I read about Harcourt Ellison’s demise,” Mr. Nott said. “They didn’t say in the Prophet, but from reading between the lines it was you. Am I right.’

“Yes.”

“Well, it doesn’t surprise me. Harcourt was a moron.” Mr. Nott shook his head sadly. “He was in love with… Riddle. He worshipped that thing.”

“What happened, dad?” Thaddeus asked. “How did he change so much? I understand that doing as much dark magic as he did can affect you, but he was almost inhuman at the end.’

“He was inhuman,” Seamus cut in. “You never saw him after he resurrected himself I’m betting.”

Mary spoke up. “We never saw him at all, father made certain of that.’

“I’m thinking the Minister is going to want to interview you personally, Mr. Nott,” Seamus said. “If everything you and your children here have said is true, I’m confident you’ll be allowed to go free.”

At that moment Delph appeared again with their plates levitated in front of him. “Tonight’s dinner is roast rack of lamb with parsnips and peaches,” he said cheerfully. “There is plenty for our guest and Madam Nott when she arises.”

“Call your sheriffs, Auror Finnigan. We should be finished when they arrive,” Mr. Nott said as Delph placed his plate before him. “Thank god this is over.”

 

(*)

 

Lavender walked past the cabin Charlie Weasley and, for this month it seemed, Adriana, one of the Hebridean keepers lived. Muffled shouts of ecstasy came from inside. “Learn a fucking silencing charm, Weasley!” she shouted, pulled her wand, and did the charm for them. “Inconsiderate fuck,” she mumbled with no real anger.

Seamus had been gone for almost two weeks. His patronesses had kept her up to date on his surveillance and the interrogation of the Notts, and she had been very pleased at the outcome. For once Seamus didn’t have to kill. He would be home this evening, though, and she had plans that would make Weasley blush. That was a tall order, she knew, and she smiled wickedly at her success.

She and Hermione had been chatting again. The black leather outfit was in her closet, the black leather straps attached to the bed, and the black leather swing could be hung from the hook directly over the center of their bed when she summoned it. The blindfold was her idea.

 

(*)

 

She was spinning above him.

Under the blindfold, strapped to the bed, all he could do was feel what she was doing. First she had stripped him, slowly. Kissing every scar, every place where he had mementos of his profession and past. When he was finally naked she had pushed him from his sitting position at the foot of the bed onto his back. With a flick of her wand he slid up the bed and the straps had bound him. Kissing her way up his body had brought him to an almost painfully aroused state, and then she had blindfolded him and asked, “Do you trust me?”

“With everything and anything, me love,” he replied. 

Her hair brushed over his thighs and her mouth and tongue became occupied with tasks other than talking. Hands stroked his chest and legs, she released him and slowly pumped her fist while kissing him deeply, and then she was back to him. “Oh, aye me love,” he said breathlessly. She released him again and there was a rusting of chains and leather. Then… oh then it was best of all. He felt he sink onto him, a wet velvet vice. She was so strong. Chains jingled as she rode him and tested the limits of the swing. Her hands pushed against his chest and legs as she slowly wound the swing suspension chains clockwise. That twisting had been slow and spectacular, a sensation he had never felt. When she released her hands and the swing twirled counterclockwise he had shouted uncontrollably. 

She was enjoying herself just as much, he could tell. She clutched him rhythmically every few minutes and shuddered while murmuring his name. As the swing spun one last time he declared his love as loudly as he could.

(*)

Ron was staring into space with a small smile as Seamus entered the office. “Morning, Ron,” he said. “Good weekend?” He got no answer, in fact Ron didn’t even move. Seamus chuckled, walked around behind Ron’s desk, leaned into his ear, and whispered, “Swing.”

Ron started out of his trance and blushed furiously. “Fuck you,” he said smirking.

Seamus laughed. “That’s Lavender’s job,” he replied, and laughed again. “Apparently we had the same weekend.”

Ron looked at him with a genuinely worried expression. “Are we going to survive these two?”

Seamus clapped him on the shoulder. “Probably not,’ he said with a grin. “But I’ll go happily down the road to perdition if this is how it’s paved.”

 

 

 

 

 

Gallic 

Mar atá sé  (as it is)


	16. The Muggles

_A/N This is why I decided to finish this story._

 

 

 

All’s Fair

The Muggles

 

“Prime Minister, it’s confirmed.”

Head in hands, the Prime Minister heaved a sigh. “There’s no other way, just no other way,” he said to no one.

“No other way to do what?” the secretary asked, puzzled.

“Nothing, Williams,” the Prime Minister said. Straightening he addressed the four men and two woman in the room. Four represented the armed forces of Great Brittan, one MI5. “I am going to utilize an asset you cannot be a part of. Leave all the classified materials here and leave the room.”

One of the women objected. “With all due respect Mr. Prime Minister, we cannot leave this information un-guarded.”

Mr. Blair smiled. “Nancy, you’ll be right outside. I’m sure MI5 has secured my office. Do you honestly believe that anyone can get in this building, much the less this office, without your organization knowing?”

The woman’s smirk under her short cut grey blonde hair didn’t quite hide her irritation. “It’s my job, Tony.”

“And this is mine, out,” he said, and ushered them from the room.

Locking the door behind them he went to the wet bar near the door to the loo and poured himself a twenty year old scotch. _Deal with the devil, that’s what your contemplating, Anthony,_ he thought. _I don’t trust these people, not with what they can do._ His rational side chimed in. _With what’s happening in that dung heap you’re going to have to play grey, you knew that when you took the job. They are your only option._ Sometimes he hated his intellect. The first man that had stepped from the fire was battered and frightening, the second a slick liar he saw through immediately. He much preferred them to the calm authoritative man he rarely saw now. _You’ve known for the last hour what you have to do. The other side brought them into it, not you. In this case, all’s fair, Tony._ With a sigh he turned to the small portrait.

“It appears we require your assistance.”

 

~(*)~

 

“Close the door, Weasley,” The Minister said.

Ron sat next to his wife on a bench under one of the windows in the Minister’s office. He was the last to arrive. Seamus turned back to Kingsley.

“Now that we’re all present we can continue. I have a mission that will require the utmost secrecy, no one can know what we are about to do,” he told them. “Mrs. Weasley has, as you all know, some experience in magically binding contracts.” He chuckled. “Hence her presence here.” Kingsley turned to Hermione. “Mrs. Weasley.”

“The Minister has asked me to create a way to make certain nothing we are about to learn and do is ever revealed, but one that avoids” –she smiled– “as he put it, ‘the barbaric nature of the unbreakable vow’.” She drew a large parchment from her small bag. “Many of you have signed a document prepared by me before.” She looked them all in the eye. “Those that haven’t can ask those that have weather breaking the contract we are about to sign is a wise concept. I’ll go first, shall I?”

 

_We, the undersigned, will never repeat, relay, provide as a pensive memory, or in any other way divulge what we will learn in Minister Shacklebolt’s office today, Fourteen, April, Two Thousand Three, or what we do in response until we are released from this contract by Minister Shacklebolt or his successor._

_Hermione Grainger Weasley       Ronald Weasley                                Harry Potter_

_Demelza Robbins             Cho Chang          Seamus Finnigan_

_Lavender Brown               Kathryn Bell_

_Pansy Parkinson Greymartin_

_Padma Goldstein             Luna Lovegood                                 Alfred Nott_

_Kingsley Shacklebolt_

“Well, now that that’s out of the way. The Muggles have managed to create a problem big enough to involve us. They have a group of madmen with weapon made from the influenza virus resident in a North African country.” Kingsley looked around the room and continued. “They have threatened to release it unless certain rather extravagant demands are met.”

“I don’t understand how that involves us, sir,” Demelza said. “They have demonstrably effective Special Forces among themselves, and I’m sure the Americans would use their nuclear weapons if they felt that threatened.”

“Yes they do, Auror Robbins, and they would have already used their nuclear weapons had this particular group of ideologically unreasonable maniacs not been enjoying the services of a wizard, and in addition kidnaped the Duke of York.” He nodded at their shocked faces. “Her Majesty requires us to retrieve her child. I for one intend to do just that!” he said in a low growl. “Whomever it is that they have enlisted as their magical aid will sorely regret making me send the pride of British wizardry to confront them.”

A more feminine growl asked, “Where are they?”

Kingsley smirked at Lavender. “Algeria, Miss Brown. They are Libyans that have set up a base in southern Algeria. The Prince was visiting some of his former mates from the military when he was taken. MI5 is understandably concerned as to how these people knew the Prince was present.” He shook his head. “I suspect we all know how that was done, but that is not our concern. Our concern is the Prince, these people’s weapon, and whoever their magical aid is.”

Kingsley turned to Harry. “Potter, you are in command of this mission. I want the Prince extracted first, and then I want you to do w _hatever it takes_ to make sure this never happens again.” The Minister’s words hung in the air for a moment.

“Excuse me, sir,” Seamus said. “But why are Lavender, Pansy, Katie, and Luna here. This is an Auror matter.”

“Quite right, Auror Finnigan. “Miss Lovegood is here to preserve this event for posterity. At some point history will want to know. Mrs. Greymartin is here to provide covert transportation. Miss Bell is here at Mrs. Greymartin’s request, and your fiancé is here because of her singular talents. We need the best we have on this, Auror Finnigan.”

Seamus nodded once. “Understood.”

“Mrs. Greymartin, Mr. Nott, and I have already talked this morning about transportation to Algeria that does not go through the regular wizarding channels. Of course they didn’t know why until now. It will be very difficult, but she has an idea that involves you Miss Brown.”

Lavender looked at Pansy, intrigued. “And that would be.” Pansy smiled at Lavender in a way that Lavender remembered all too well, and the blonde woman muttered, “Oh shit.”

Pansy chuckled. “It’s not that bad, Lavender, but it all depends on what the Kind will do for us.” At Lavender’s raised eyebrow she continued. “Mr. Nott can get a covert port key to the site but any more than one will set up an easily identifiable magical resonance and alert their wizard to our presence.”

Auror heads nodded in the room.

“And so the Minister and I thought that we could send an operative there to secure in their mind the location for a side-along apparition,” Pansy continued. “Unfortunately, as we all know, side-along is limited to three.” She turned to Lavender. “Unless we were all linked, here’s my plan.”

 

~(*)~

Marion Mclellen was not happy. Katlyn was heading into battle, again. The Minister himself had asked her to let her child help England retrieve one of her own. How could she refuse? “Be careful, Kat,” she told her daughter as she hugged her, then she turned to the giant white dragon by her daughter’s side. “Bring her back to me, you hear?”

Katlyn took her mother’s hand. WORRY NOT, AROUK TA’EH Horatius said in her mind. 

Marion stepped back and stood beside the other mother standing on the common field. They watched her daughter mount the alabaster giant. This other woman was short, she wore a light blue knee length dress, and a small blue hat. Her expression was serious but with the barest hint of worry.  “Sir Potter!” The older woman said in a regal voice. Harry turned from his position just behind Katlyn and looked down into the gray framed face. “Bring my son back to me whole and I’ll make you a Lord.”

“It will be my honor, Your Majesty.”

As the two women watched the team of dragons, wizards and witches ascend, the older woman took the younger’s hand. “The monarchy has placed our faith in Merlyn’s kin before in our long reign. They have never disappointed. Have faith, Mrs. Mclellen.”

Marion smiled and nodded. “As you wish, Mam.”

 

~(*)~

Seamus gripped the dorsal plates next to Lavender’s thighs and held on tight as Asgre powered into the sky. Pansy and Katie aboard Brighid were to his right and Katlyn, Harry, and Ron were astride Horatius on his left. Luna seemed to be able to hang on with her knees while she took notes using his back as a desk. They passed through a cloud layer the color of blood in the dying sun, and Seamus grinned.

Katie’s presence was explained when she had taken the port key to Algeria and, under Harry’s cloak, flown as close to the village where the prince was being held as she dared. The finding charm had located the Prince in a large structure on the outskirts of the town. A wall surrounded the compound of a few smaller buildings and what looked like a modest hotel. A subtle use of the Leviosa charm on the sand around the compound revealed the outline of the wards she expected. She hovered a hundred yards out from the compound and committed it and the Prince’s approximate location within it to memory. Then she flew ten miles out into the surrounding desert, fixed that location in her mind, and activated the return port key.

A wave of power flowed through everyone, dragon and human, as Katlyn formed first the shallow link and then a deeper connection between them all. Lavender focused and directed her apprentice’s raw talent, adding her own power to the link and drawing them into a single focused mind. 

_Destination!_

_Determination!_

_Deliberation!_

In the sky above Whales three dragons spiraled into the sky. There was a blue flare of magic and a deafening concussion as all three dragons and their human cargo apparated.

 ~(*)~

Mohy was accustomed to the static lightening that accompanied an oncoming haboob, it was a common enough occurrence in the desert, but that last thunderclap was the loudest he could remember. With a sigh he picked up his binoculars and searched the eastern horizon. The sun was gone and in the fading twilight he imagined her saw a distant cloud of dust swirling toward him. Something white moved within the cloud, and then he saw a face. A young girl gazed into his soul, her calm touch soothed his burning fanaticism, and he felt a peace flow though him.

Seamus crawled into Mohy’s head through the connection Katlyn had seized, and riffled through his recent memories. He was the perfect subject for Legilimency, an easily manipulated mind. The prince was being held in a storage room deep in the basement of the hotel. Mohy hadn’t seen him; he just knew to avoid that area unless he wanted to leave this life quickly. The frightening one, the one that no one spoke of, stayed in the penthouse suite. Seamus withdrew and left a blank numbness behind. _Take a nap, Mohy,_ was the last thing in the young man’s mind as he toppled to the floor of the watch cage in the north east corner of the compound.

“Mohy, Mohy!” his companion called. He pleaded for his friend to wake up before a less forgiving superior found him. The other man found some water and splashed Mohy in the face, but he slept on with a contented smile.

Pansy, from her perch just behind Katie, directed the rush of wind and sand that ran before the oncoming dragons. About fifty yards from the compound the sand shimmered as it encountered and interacted with the ward. As one the dragons spat.

~(*)~

_I am a fucking stupid wanker,_ the Prince thought for the thousandth time. _I hope the Yanks nuke this place into glass car park. It’d serve me right… what the bloody hell was that?_

The hotel shook as the wards collapsed. And a cloud of dust rained down on the prince and his guard. The guard turned to the door and the Prince took the chance he had been waiting for two days to take. With all his strength he lunged, taking the chair he was roped to with him, slamming into the man’s back. He bounced off the man as he hit the door and fell on his back, smashing the chair. The guard had fallen forward, and his forehead hit the steel handle on the little window in the door. He collapsed to the floor, shuddered, once and died.

Stunned by his sudden success, the prince just stared at the dead man for several seconds. _Focus, Andrew,_ his mother’s voice said in his mind. “Yes mum,’ he said quietly, shook the remains of the ropes and the chair from him, and began searching his guard for weapons.

~(*)~

When the dragon’s fire encountered the wards they shattered like glass and evaporated. Harry, Ron, Seamus, Pansy and Lavender leapt from the dragons they were riding and apparated. Harry, Ron, and Lavender appeared just outside the basement doors, Seamus and Pansy snapped into reality outside the door to the penthouse. Katie pulled Brighid up into a loop and as the world came back around they dived on the compound. Men poured from a doorway and Katie directed Brighid’s attention there. The men that had regained their sanity after being presented with dragons attacking their compound began firing their guns at Katie and Brighid. The bullets stopped in midair, caught in Katie’s shield. They didn’t even see Luna and Asgre behind them before they disappeared in fire. Above it all Horatius soared with his Arouk, her eyes closed, almost in a trance.

Katlyn could feel them all, and they, through her, could act in unison. Chaos reigned in and around the hotel. Attacks came from every direction as Asgre and Brighid twisted through the sky and dove again and again on the compound. Katie and Luna continually recast their shields around Brighid and Asgre and let the two dragons play. As Asgre ripped the machine gun turret from a structure on the west wall and flew off with it her daughter swooped from out of the gloom and incinerated the garage.

“Sihr’!” called some of the men, before some calamity from the sky took them, but he was occupied.

~(*)~

The door to the penthouse apartment flew from its hinges and Seamus stepped into the room followed closely by Pansy. A man on the balcony that was gaping at the sky spun to face them. Behind him Asgre reduced the barracks and his men to ash. “Zahhak,” he said in wonder and anger.

“You speak English, arsehole?” Seamus asked as he deflected the man’s first curse. “Stay back and make sure we’re not disturbed,” he told Pansy.

“Kafir,” The man spat at Seamus.

“Guess not,” Seamus said, and he began to duel in earnest. 

~(*)~

Shouts, explosions, and gunfire sounded outside his basement prison and Andrew redoubled his efforts to find a way to open the door. There was no door handle, and only the small now bloodied window handle was available to him. Tentatively he slid the window shield open and looked though the little eight inch by four inch glass opening. What he saw he would never forget. Twenty men filled the basement room on the other side of his door, and they were all looking toward another door on the opposite side of the huge room. That door simply vanished, disappeared, faster than a puff of smoke.

Then there was a woman shaped blur heading straight at him. 

Whenever a man confronted her, or was simply in her way, he died. They exploded from within, erupted in fire, fell in pieces, or simply crumpled after slamming repeatedly into the floor and ceiling. The two men in her wake barely kept up with her advance as she smashed her way across the room. The men in the basement never once attempted to turn on the Prince as the fought futilely for their lives. It was over in seconds.

The door was ripped from its hinges and the beautiful blonde, splattered in blood, stepped into his cell. “Good evening, Highness,” She said lightly. “It seems you have things all sorted by yourself.” She indicated the gun hanging loosely in his hand. Leaning in she took it from him and chuckled. “Your mother sent us, thought you might like a lift home.”

The prince laughed, looked over her shoulder, and finally recognized the dark haired man and his ginger companion. “That I would, miss, and thank you once again Sir Potter, Sir Weasley.”

~(*)~

_They have him._ The message traveled to the entire party and Seamus grinned. The wizard had proved to be a rather daunting adversary. Seamus had little doubt that he could beat him given ten more minutes, but he had other plans. He backed into the field of Pansy’s shield spell and reinforced it as the crazed wizard bombarded them with spell after spell. Pansy winked at the man and twisted with Seamus’ arm grasped in her hand. They reappeared on Brighid and tucked in behind Katie.

In the link Luna, Pansy and Seamus cast the Anti-Disapparition Jinx. Seamus drew a small package from a satchel on Brighid’s side and pulled a string from it. Then he threw it into the center of the courtyard, and they streaked away from the compound

~(*)~

“Release!” the text message said. Ahem went to the dresser in the small room in his hotel and muttered a prayer as he opened the drawer. A loud bang sounded in the room and he spun to the door, the semi-automatic pistol from the drawer gripped in his hand. A beautiful Asian woman stood by the closed door, and he attempted to raise the gun, but he found he couldn’t move. Panic shown in his eyes as the woman walked across the room to him.

“You are Ahem?’ she said. Not waiting for an answer that couldn’t come she carried on. She smiled at him and took a small box from the dresser. “Hello, my name is Cho, and I’ll be your Auror for the evening.” She opened the box. An aerosol spray can, about two thirds of an inch in diameter and five long, rested inside some bubble wrap. “Such a small thing,” she said to no one. “So much death in such a small thing.” She set it on the top of the dresser and tapped it with her wand. It vanished in a green flash and a puff of acrid smoke.

Then she turned to Ahem, and he was truly afraid.

“Well, what shall we do with you?” she said contemplatively. “You deserve a slow and painful death starting right now for what you had planned, but since I have a little time, I think we can be a bit more inventive than that.”

~(*)~

The Duke of York had never apparated before and promptly vomited as he reappeared on the sand three miles from the compound. Asgre alit a few yards away and he would have been terrified had he not been fighting for control of his intestines.

“Sorry, your Highness,” Lavender said as she vanished the sick from the sand and handed the Price a freshly conjured wet towel. “You’ll be better prepared for the next one.”

“The next one?” he said worriedly as he wiped his mouth. Lavender chuckled and handed him a glass of water.

“Here they come,” Ron said and pointed in the direction of the burning compound.

One dragon was amazing, two were a wonder, but the enormous white animal that dropped a body gently to the sand and landed last was astonishing, as was the red haired girl the leapt lightly from its back. 

“Your Highness, allow me to introduce Lavender Brown,” Harry indicated Lavender. “Katlyn Mclellen,” she curtsied. “Pansy Greymartin.”

“Your Highness,” Pansy said as she took his hand.

 “Kathryn Bell,” Harry continued.

“Highness,” she said as he took her hand.

 “And Luna Lovegood,” Harry finished.

“You are very handsome in person, Your Highness,” Luna said, and the Prince laughed. “Much more so than your brother. He resembles a blithering humdinger,” she continued, and Andrew guffawed.

“Luna!” Harry said but the Prince put his hand on Harry’s Shoulder and shook his head.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked to his right. “You know Ron and Seamus already.”

“Thank you all, but the weapon…” the Prince said.

A bright flash filled the sky behind Harry where the compound sat, and he smiled. “Is no longer a concern,” he said. “Shall we go?”

~(*)~

Less than an hour after they left there was another huge concussion as the three dragons reappeared in the sky above Whales. Asgre and Brighid trumpeted jubilantly while Horatius spiraled slowly down toward the common field. The Dragon friends streamed from the compound and gathered in the common field behind Marion Mclellen and the Queen. The Kind responded to Asgre and Brighid’s calls and began to gather in the common field themselves. Horatius landed first and Katlyn dismounted and ran to her mother. Ron and Harry helped the Duke of York from his perch as his mother hurried toward him. She drew him into a very un-regal hug and peppered his face with kisses.

“Andrew Albert you will never do that to me again! Am I clear?” the Queen said sternly, as she drew back and shook him by the shoulders. A few of the Dragon Friends nearby chuckled at a mother’s stern admonishment. The prince reached into his mother’s handbag and drew out a kerchief. He gently dabbed his mother’s eyes and kissed her forehead.

“I had myself worried too, Mum,” he said, and hugged her very hard indeed.

A few yards away Tony Blair and Kingsley Shacklebolt looked on. “You owe me, Blair.”

“I’m aware, Shacklebolt,” the Prime Minister sighed in reply.

“That’s all I ask,” the dark man replied. He took the Prime Ministers arm and returned him to his office at Number Ten.

While the Queen and the Prince huddled in quite conversation Seamus drew Lavender to his side. “Ya’ done good me lass,” he said in full brogue. 

“Thanks, Shay,” she said and kissed his cheek. “I’ll just be glad to get back to work tomorrow. I’m not cut out for this stuff, you know that.”

“Yeah,” he said and laughed. “It’s pissing Kingsley off you’re so good at it though.”

She just shrugged, and then laughed as Asgre nuzzled them from behind.

“Lavender Brown, Katlyn Mclellen, Pansy Greymartin, Luna Lovegood, and Kathryn Bell, step forward!” the Queen commanded. She turned to Harry and removed her hat. “Sir Potter, you know what I require.”

As the five women gathered in front of the Queen, Harry reached deep into her hat. He smiled at Lavender and said, “You remember what I take out of hats?” The sword of Gryffindor gripped in his hand, he slid it free of the hat and passed the hilt end to the queen.

“Thank you Sir Potter, now, Miss Brown, kneel.” Lavender trembled slightly as she dropped to one knee before the Queen. The monarch of England closed her eyes and muttered and ancient prayer. The she looked down at her subject.

“I’m sorry I’m covered in blood, Your Majesty,” Lavender said

 The Queen smiled grimly “The blood of our enemies. Lavender Brown,” she said as she taped her right shoulder with the sword. “For returning the Duke of York to my arms I name you Knight of the Order of Saint Patrick.” She taped Lavender’s left shoulder. “Rise, Dame Brown.”

She was joined by Dames Greymartin, Lovegood, Bell, and Mclellen before the queen turned to the gathered men at her side. “Potter, on your knees boy!” Harry smiled up into her face, kneeling before her once again. “You have a knack, Sir Potter, for heroics. Don’t let it get you harmed; I’ve grown rather fond of you.” She taped his shoulders. “Rise, Lord Potter, Earl of Diagon.”

Lastly the Queen turned to Seamus. “Mr. Finnigan, once again I find you in my presence. The last time you stood behind Sir Potter, Sir Weasley, and Dame Weasley as they accepted their awards. Today, today _you_ kneel.” Seamus did. “Seamus Finnigan, for all the things you have done, including saving my son and the world from a madman with no conscience, I name you Knight of the Order of Merlyn.” She firmly tapped his shoulders. “Rise, Sir Finnigan.”

~(*)~

Mohy stretched on the sand. Such a pleasant dream he’d had. A young white girl with beautiful red hair had born him away on a great white god into a peaceful desert paradise. He sat up and looked around. The village was a shadow in the distance, and a small plume of smoke trailed into the sky in the north end. What had happened while he’d been having his wonderful dream?

~(*)~

A few miles away in the desert of southern Algeria the village awoke. The compound that everyone feared was a smoking ruin. A careful arson investigator would never discover the cause of the intense fire. An excavation would reveal that the incredible heat, which had reduced the hotel to a sculpted garden of multicolored glass, had caused the sand to melt and flow like water into the underground chambers beneath it. They would have found that those chambers had contained a certain laboratory, and that the four occupants and all their work had been vitrified. A microbiologist would have been amazed at the absolute sterility inside the odd sphere of destruction. A physicist could have written a master’s thesis on the mysterious effect that had created the anomaly.

None of this came to pass, of course, as the entire event was quietly covered up and the compound leveled.

~(*)~

Ahem tried to scream, but all that came out were small bubbles from between his mandibles. He couldn’t open his claws because the rubber bands held them closed. The net swooped down and he was being lifted from the water of the large tank that had been his home for two days. His eyes couldn’t focus out of the water, but he saw the shadows of the dinners in the posh Parisian restaurant attached to his hotel as he was paraded to the kitchen. The last thing he thought before he hit the boiling water was _I hope they are right that lobsters don’t feel pain as they are cooked._

They were wrong.

 


	17. The Arouks

_A/N Merry Christmas. This chapter has been done for some time, and I hope you enjoy the show._

 

All’s Fair

The Arouks

 

“Your Majesty, Your royal Highnesses, Ladies and gentlemen, wizards and witches, boys and girls, welcome to the United Wizarding Charities Fourth Annual Charity Match Special Presentation!” Pansy announced to the crowd.

The stadium surrounding the pitch was easily half again as large as the previous year, and even then it had sold out for the special presentation. The poster for this year had been a promotional work of art. Lavender and Katlyn stood in the common field, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, turned slightly away from each other, and dressed in their keeping kits. Their arms were crossed, and they wore subtle smirks on their faces. Asgre and Horatius stood behind them as the sunset cast a red glow over them all. In the background the careful observer could count at least thirty more of the Kind coming and going in the common field. The same banner was spread across the top, only this year it said, “Fourth” instead of “Third”, and across the bottom it simply said, “Arouk”.

For this show Lavender was determined to outshine everything the attendees had ever seen. She and Katlyn had practiced and rehearsed for the last month and a half, and to Seamus it showed. He knew the program as well as they did, and from his seat in the VIP box he watched as Pansy set the audience up for another tremendous surprise. She strolled across the green sward of the field. “Once again we will be erecting shields between the stands and the pitch, and this year we won’t have any unwanted guests. I’ve seen to that!”

The audience chuckled as the security agents began charming the shields into existence.

Pansy noticed many of the spectators staring up into the sky hoping for a sneak preview of Katlyn and Lavender. She smiled to herself. They were completely wrong about, and wholly un-prepared for what was to happen next. As the workers erected the shields pansy continued. “Last year, before we were so rudely interrupted,” she said, and the audience laughed and cheered. “We were fleetingly introduced to a remarkable young lady, Katlyn Mclellen.” A huge round of applause and youthful screams of admiration rang in the stadium. “She deserves all of that and more,” Pansy continued. “I have grown to know Kat over the last year, and I can tell you she is what you believe she is, an amazing, intelligent, driven, and kind young woman. Any of us would be proud to call her daughter.” More applause came from the stands.

 “And, as you have read, just like Lavender she is a hero.” Pansy continued. “Her incredible ability as Arouk, coupled with her Ka Arouk’s control, allowed a small group of wizards and witches, of which I was privileged to be a part, to rescue the Duke of York and the world from a terrible fate.” The secrecy document had been torn in half by Kingsley three months after the raid on the Algerian compound, and Luna’s account of the event had been published worldwide in the wizarding press. Some bits had been left out, but by and large, everyone in the wizarding world knew what had happened on the sands of the Sahara. In the royal section of the VIP box The Queen clapped politely while the Duke of York and his Wife stood and applauded. The crowd around them cheered enthusiastically.

“Another thing we found, to our surprise, is that being Arouk is not her only talent.” Pansy said and sniggered. “In fact she displays this other talent almost constantly while caring for her charges.” She waved her wand over her head and the opening above the stadium darkened to a nighttime sky. A silvery full moon shone on one side of the illusion, and Pansy smiled, illuminated by a lone spotlight. It worked perfectly; the audience was hushed in wonder. A Celtic melody of strings and tin whistle started playing in the large public address shells, and Pansy softly said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Dame Katlyn Mclellen.”

Pansy’s spotlight winked out and three other spotlights suddenly shone on a small stage in the center of the pitch. Katlyn stood proud and confident on the stage, and then she began to sing.

 

“Oh, the summer time is coming, 

 And the trees are sweetly blooming, 

 And the wild mountain thyme 

 Grows around the blooming heather.“

 

The audience was dumbstruck. Katlyn had the voice of a Scottish angel. 

 

“Will ye go, laddie, will ye go? 

 And we'll all go together 

 To pull wild mountain thyme 

 All around the blooming heather, 

 Will ye go, laddie go?” 

 

She stepped off the stage and walked toward the side of the pitch the VIP box stood in. As she sang, images played across the screens of the shields. Like two way mirrors, the shields were transparent from behind, but from the pitch side moving scenes of Lavender, Katlyn, and the other keepers interacting with the dragons played in a giant slide show. 

 

“I will build my friends a bower 

 By yon clear an’ crystal fountain, 

 And all around the bower,

 I'll pile flowers from the mountain.“

It was absolutely still. An occasional murmur of wonder was the only thing heard besides the music and Katlyn’s amazing voice.

“Will ye go, laddie, will ye go? 

 And we'll all go together 

 To pull wild mountain thyme 

 All around the blooming heather, 

 Will ye go, laddie go?” 

 

The spotlights faded and a tin whistle rendition of the melody played above the orchestration. All the while the scenes of the Dragon Friends continued to play on the screens. Seamus looked to his left side. Katlyn’s mother had tears streaming down her face, and he offered her his kerchief. As he did he noticed Dean giving his to Luna. Always one to recognize and embrace unexpected beauty, Luna matched Marion Mclellen tear for tear. Then Seamus noticed that almost everyone in the VIP box, including her Majesty, dabbed occasionally and surreptitiously at their eyes. On the pitch Katlyn turned, strolled along the edge as the spotlights cane back up, and she began the next verse

 

“If my true love, he won't have me, 

 I will surely find another 

 To pull wild mountain thyme 

 All around the blooming heather.”

A group of young girls her age had gathered at the bottom of one of the stairways, and they waved at Katlyn from behind the shield. She saw their shapes behind the images projected on the screen, and she stooped and sang to them.

 

“Will ye go, laddie, will ye go? 

 And we'll all go together 

 To pull wild mountain thyme 

 All around the blooming heather, 

 Will ye go, laddie go?

 

Oh, the summertime is coming 

 And the trees they are a blooming 

 And the wild mountain thyme 

 Grows around the blooming heather.”

The girls gasped, squealed, and clutched at their chests as she walked back to the stage and finished with a powerful and strong flourish.

  
“Will ye go, laddie, will you go?”

Katlyn motioned for the audience to join her, and they enthusiastically took up the tune.

“And we'll all go together 

 To pull wild mountain thyme 

 All around the blooming heather, 

 Will ye go, laddie, go, 

Will ye go, laddie, 

Will ye go?” 

 

The roar of the crowd was something Katlyn’s parents would never forget. Their child stood at the center of the pitch with all eyes on her, and she smiled and waved back as if she had been performing her whole life. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much. My name is Katlyn, and I am Arouk.” Another huge cheer sounded in the stadium.

The music never stopped. A reprise of the melody in pipes and strings played lightly behind her as Katlyn continued. “Last year Lavender showed you what it is to be Arouk, this year we want to show you why we love the Kind so.” She stepped off the stage again and it vanished, then she walked toward the edge of the pitch and the VIP box side of the stands as the spotlights followed her. “When you saw me last I could not use my left arm, and as you may have seen my face and neck were horribly scarred. Then I met Horatius, the dragon to whom I am Arouk, and my dearest friend. He healed me. Dragon tears have a curative property, especially for an Arouk. It is one way we bond so tightly with them. They heal us just for the love of us.” The sky above the pitch had been gradually lightening as Katlyn talked. “As Lavender told you last year, Horatius was kept prisoner in the vaults at Gringotts for over a thousand years, so he is naturally not very social. We had thought to introduce you to him, but he once again declined, and I agree with his decision. Today Lavender and I have brought you, or rather they brought us to you, Dante and Brighid!”

The illusion had completely dissipated by the time Katlyn finished and Lavender astride Dante plunged through the opening of the stadium. They were followed by Brighid who swooped down to a few feet off the pitch and streaked toward Katlyn. The music had changed to a fast loud drum beat with string counterpoints. The red haired girl was already at a dead run when the dragon flew up behind her, scooped her from the ground, and threw her fifty feet or more in the air. Brighid rose to meet her and gently matched her accent as Katlyn dropped lightly astride her shoulders. The crowd roared.

“Hello again, all,” Lavender said from her perch. “My name is Lavender, and I too am Arouk.” The cheering was non-stop as she and Katlyn circled the stadium aboard the two dragons. It finally subsided when both she and Katlyn had landed and dismounted to a grand flourish from the orchestra. “You all remember Dante of course,” Lavender said with a smile, and the crowd let Dante know they loved him too. “If you read the first interview in the Quibbler you know Kat and I were having a… difference of opinion as to whom we should bring along this year.”

The crowd laughed.

“Yes,” Lavender smirked and said snidely, “well, obviously Katlyn won.”

There was more laughter.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, allow me to introduce our friend, Brighid,” Katlyn said and raised her arm in the Welshie’s direction. The crowd cheered again and Lavender and Katlyn felt Brighid’s pride swell. _You love the attention, don’t you?_  Lavender sent at Brighid. 

_AND YOU DO NOT, KA AROUK_? came Brighid’s snide reply in the link, and then the great green dragon took a bow.

Lavender and Katlyn laughed along with the audience. “Brighid is one of the smartest of the Kind we have met, and, as you have seen, she fancies herself quite the comedian. She is also the daughter of Asgre, the dragon to whom I am Arouk, and she is one of our greatest friends among the Kind,” Lavender told them. “It was Brighid, Asgre, and Horatius that accompanied us to Algeria to retrieve the Duke of York for Her Majesty.”

In the royal section of the VIP box the Queen stood and clapped politely for Brighid. Around her everyone else stood and soon the entire stadium was applauding Brighid.

Katlyn stood on the opposite side of the center ring from Lavender next to the Welsh dragon. “Brighid thanks you,” Katlyn said as the applause subsided. “Last year Lavender told us about eggs and gold, Fire and flight, this year we will talk about how the Kind live.” She smiled up at the audience. They had no idea. “As we saw in the last presentation, the Kind need gold to form their shells. Lavender and I have learned loads in the last three months about what happens after the egg shell is no longer needed. The day after we returned from Tibet, Gavina’s brood hatched.” The audience “Oohed” and clapped. A light lullaby started in the background. “Yes, we were there, and three of the five eggs were successful. The three chicks are in perfect health, and they are very cute and actually quite cuddlesome as hatchlings, so we thought you might like a glimpse.” _Now, Gavina._ A mummer of confused wonder ran through the crowd until a large black shape appeared in the sky above the pitch. “Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to quietly welcome Gavina and the chicks,” Katlyn said.

She was jet black and shone like polished onyx. The crowd clapped lightly and gasped in awe while the dragon spiraled down to the center ring. Brighid and Dante walked away from the center of the pitch as the Hebridean Black settled to the turf. Lavender and Katlyn met at Gavina’s head and stroked her cheeks as she greeted them. Then three small shapes hopped from the black dragon’s back and ran to the two Arouks. The first to arrive tackled Katlyn, and they rolled on the ground laughing. “This is Malcolm,” Katlyn said through her mirth.

_AROUK, AROUK, AROUK, AROUK,_ the young dragon sent over and over as he licked her face and wrestled with her.

“And these are Glavine and Morton,” Lavender said as she picked up one small dragon and allowed the other to curl around her leg. “As you can see they are already developing their own personalities.” She tipped her head at Katlyn and Malcolm, still wrestling on the pitch. “Malcolm, obviously, is not shy,” she said, and laughed along with the people in the stands. “They all hatched within a day of each other, but, as with humans, birth order counts. Malcolm is the oldest and the most social. He will play with any of the Friends, but he especially loves Kat.”

Katlyn managed to stand and heft the five foot long young dragon up on her shoulders. He dug his claws into the shoulder pads on the jacket and peered around curiously at the stands and the pitch. “Glavine,” she indicated the chick in Lavender’s arms. “Is the youngest, and she really likes cuddling. Morton is just as playful as Malcolm is, but he’s more reserved. He’s the middle child.” _Now, Ka Arouk?_ Katlyn asked in the link.

Lavender nodded.

“Before the presentation, as you were entering, we asked that all the children aged ten and eleven drop their names in a bin,” Katlyn told the crowd. She produced three slips of paper from her jacket pocket. “Could Jason Heathman, Sandra Wormwood, and Elise Monforte make yourselves known to a security attendant?” A murmur of curiosity sounded in the stands.

“While we wait let’s look at Glavine,” Lavender said as Katlyn strolled slowly around the edge of the pitch toward entrance. Lavender nuzzled the young dragon and purred to her. “The sound you heard me make is the comfort purr that Gavina and all of the Kind make to their young. Since they are so young we have to make sure they aren’t scared or even nervous when we work with them. They don’t intuitively know yet that, even at this young age, they can still cause serious harm to us. It’s why we were such protective kits. When Katlyn and I link with them we can teach them and remind them” She gently lifted Glavine’s wing. “Let them see your wings, sweetheart,” Lavender said in a high light voice.

“The Hebrideans have a unique coloring in their youth,” Katlyn said while Lavender convinced the young Hebridean to spread her wings. When she did the audience gasped at the bright red patches on her chest and the green and gold stripes on the underside of her wings. “We now know that this is to attract the attention of their mother in a danger situation.”

All the while the three grown dragons looked on. Dante had settled on his hind legs and was looking around at the crowd when not watching Lavender and Katlyn. Brighid had hardly spared the Arouks a glace for the first few minutes as she strolled around the sward examining the pitch, the hoops, and the people in the seats, then she joined Katlyn as she walked toward the pitch entrance archway. Gavina watched her chicks intently. It was obvious she trusted Lavender and Katlyn with them, but she was still an attentive mother.

Three children and seven adults appeared at the pitch entrance. Katlyn nodded to the security attendant, and the shield in front of the pitch dissolved. She stood around thirty feet from the arch and motioned the children forward. Two girls and the one boy, slowly, but with excited faces, walked to Katlyn, Malcolm, and Brighid as the shield reformed. The children had been supplied with outfits matching Katlyn and Lavender’s; jackets and trousers of treated dragon skin with an illustration of the special presentation logo embossed on the back of the jacket.

“Take my hand,” Katlyn said, “don’ be afraid, you’re safe as houses, you are.” The three youngsters grasped Katlyn’s left hand as she held it out to them. The Scottish girl caressed Malcolm with her right hand and let her power flow. The three children gasped in wonder as they suddenly felt the shallower link form.

 Katlyn giggled at their awestruck faces, and then she introduced them to Malcolm and Brighid through the link as they walked back to Gavina and Lavender. The young dragon on Katlyn’s shoulder took and immediate liking to the French girl, Elise Monforte, and crawled upon her shoulders as soon as they stopped next his mother. The other two petted and received licks from him until Lavender placed Glavine in Sandra Wormwood’s arms, and then she picked up Morton and placed him on Jason Heathman’s shoulders.”

_Well done, Ni Arouk,_ Lavender sent in the link. Katlyn smiled and winked back at her.

The three children were in a special kind of bliss, and Katlyn couldn’t help but grin widely. She knew exactly how they felt because she had had the same emotions she could feel them having. Katlyn turned back to the crowd and addressed them. “This is far and away the best part of our job. I could play with the chicks all day, but we don’t want to burden Gavina and over excite the chicks, so we won’t take too long. We’ll play for a few minutes, take a few pictures, and then send Gavina and the babies back home.”

Charlie Weasley had already appeared at the pitch entrance and after the attendant let him past the shield he walked to Lavender and Katlyn. While Gavina hovered over them all Charlie took pictures of the group as they played and posed. When he had taken twenty or more he nodded to Lavender and left the pitch.

“Take Malcolm to that side of the pitch, and show him to the people there if you would,” Katlyn said quietly to Elise. The French girl nodded enthusiastically and started toward the stands opposite the VIP box. Katlyn nodded to Dante and he followed close behind Elise. “Jason,” she said as she turned to him. “Would you be so kind and show Morton to those fine people?” she asked, indicating the crowd near the north hoops. Jason Heathman wore a smile a mile wide as he confidently strode away toward his assigned area of the audience. Katlyn nodded to Brighid, and she followed Jason. Both Arouks felt Gavina’s approval of the children and their dragon escorts. “Sandra, come with me,” Katlyn told the remaining girl and lead her away to the south hoops.

Gavina followed Katlyn and Sandra to the south end of the pitch and watched as Katlyn and Sandra showed Glavine to the excited people, most of whom were children, but many older to downright elderly faces were behind the youthful ones lining the rail.

“Alright, it’s time for them to go home now,” the Ka Arouk told the crowd and the excited youngsters on the pitch after a few minutes. “Say goodbye.”

The entire stadium said “Awe,” at the same time. The children and their dragon escorts made their way back to their spot in front of the VIP box

Malcolm did not want to leave Elise Monforte’s shoulders. He was enthralled by her dark skin and tight black braids. The young dragon nuzzled her neck and let her beaded, braided hair drag over his face. Katlyn could feel him wondering about the color of her skin and hair. “They’ve not seen a black person before. As you can feel, Malcolm is very happy that there are humans the same color as he is.”

The French girl looked up at Gavina and said, “He may return home with me, oui?” The ebony dragon laughed along with the Arouks, and she tapped her eldest with a whisker. The children and the Arouks all felt Gavina’s emotional tug on her son.

 It still took several moments and some comedic struggling to convince him that he needed to return to his mother’s back. Morton had laid his head on Jason Heathman’s shoulder, and he intently followed everything the boy looked at. He received a giant hug from Jason and he returned it in kind with licks before returning to his perch on his mother. Glavine was purring softly in Sandra Wormwood’s arms, her tail wrapped around Sandra’s arm, and her head nestled in the crook of Sandra’s neck.  The girl was silently crying with joy when she passed the nearly sleeping chick to her mother. Gavina picked the chick up by the scruff of the neck and placed her gently in the spot she normally took on her mother’s back. Then the giant animal bent and allowed the three children to hug her neck while she stroked them with her whiskers. In the link Katlyn and Lavender felt a swirl of love, admiration, and thanks. Elise kissed Gavina on the snout as they stepped away. The giant black dragon gently stroked Elise with her whiskers again, and then she turned, took a few steps, and took flight to polite clapping.

Katlyn looked at Jason Heathman with a sly smile. “Well, that was quality, aye?”

He nodded, eyes wide and glassy, and then Elise spoke up. “When I am adult, I want to be zee dragon friend’s, oui?” she said it so earnestly, nodding, pleading, hyperventilating, almost in tears.

Lavender bent and hugged Elise. When she pulled back she looked the girl squarely in the eyes. “Oui,” she said nodding. Elise hugged her again, sobbing with joy.

“And me,” Sandra said at nearly the same time as Jason.

Katlyn hugged her new friends and nodded. _That worked, Ka Arouk,_ she sent just to Lavender.

Lavender smiled and winked to her apprentice as she stood. _All’s fair, Ni Arouk_  she sent. “How about a round of applause for our three assistants,” She asked the audience.

In the VIP box Seamus could feel the floor vibrate from the ovation. He had yet to be asked a question; the dignitaries in the box had been so entranced by what was happening below them they had forgotten he was there. As they politely clapped in the box the crowd cheered and stomped in the stands. He watched as Katlyn escorted the three ecstatic youngsters back to their parents waiting with the security agent at the pitch entrance. He smirked to himself. They weren’t quite done yet.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Katlyn said. “Hmm, what shall we do now?” she said in an obviously fake voice. “Oh, I know,” _Brighid, running mount,_ she sent. With a glance at her parents in the VIP box she took off again at a run. The music that had faded during Gavina’s departure started up again. A rolling galloping drumbeat accompanied by staccato orchestration sounded throughout the stadium. Brighid ran up beside her, and Katlyn hopped onto the back of one fore foot as Brighid ran. It propelled the girl up to the dragons back, and then Katlyn trotted quickly to Brighid’s shoulders and mounted. They were in the air a moment later. As the crowd watched Katlyn’s acrobatic mount Lavender gracefully crawled up Dante’s lowered shoulder and mounted. Then they too took to the air.

“As I said last year, the Kind mature slowly,” Lavender told the crowd as they circled the pitch. “As a mother, Gavina will have the three chicks to care for and teach for the next several hundred years. They will be nearly adult size in eight to ten months, and we at the reserve are preparing for that challenge. But one day, far in the future, we will wake up to three adolescents, like these two.”

“And that’s when they are at their most inquisitive and adventurous,” Katlyn said. She stroked the side of the green dragon she was riding. “They have survived the trials of childhood and are now ready to explore the world.” She looked out at the crowd from her seat. “The best part for us, though, is that they still like to play.” She lunged forward, grasped the dorsal plates in front of her, and held on tight. Brighid rocketed straight up out of the stadium followed closely by Dante with Lavender holding on to him just a tightly.

The two dragons spiraled up out of the pitch and then began to dip and weave around each other. It soon became apparent to the onlookers that they were playing a kind of aerial tag. The two dragons banked and twisted through the sky, each trying to get behind the other and nip the tail of their friend. The crowd caught on and soon took sides. Some cheering when Lavender and Dante succeeded and twisting in a kind of barrel roll and winding up directly behind Katlyn and Brighid, and then cursing in disappointment as Brighid did a classic red dog, dropping and stopping in midair so that Lavender and Dante sailed over her head, then pushing herself with great beats of her wings to slide in behind the horntail. 

They played the game for ten minutes until they had both scored a few points on the other, and then they returned to the pitch. “Dante and Brighid!” Lavender called as she and Katlyn hopped back to the turf. The two dragons basked in the adulation from the stands, and Brighid took another bow. The background music changed to “The Mermaids Tears” played on tin whistle, strings, and boron and Katlyn stepped forward.

“In the fourth Quibbler interview we were asked about the way the Kind interact with each other at the reserve,” she said as she walked toward the stands opposite the VIP box. “In that interview we described the common field and how all the Kind treat it as mutual ground. Other than that they don’t particularly like anyone, and that includes Lavender and me, arriving at their lair unannounced. We have never been attacked, but Harriman, one of our Norwegians, scolded me for ten minutes one day when I didn’t give him enough warning.”

Lavender laughed. “Yeah, and then he took you for a ride.” She laughed again. “He wasn’t that upset, but it does bring is to the topic I promised in the first interview, territory.” She stroked Brighid’s cheek as she walked by. “These two are very accepting of others of the Kind at their lair, and they are the best of friends; in fact we often find them sleeping together, but that is a very rare thing among the Kind.”

“Horatius and Asgre tolerate each other at their lairs,” Katlyn said. “But other than that the Kind prefer privacy. We leave at least a half a mile between roosts for their piece of mind.” 

“We have never seen a true fight among the Kind,” Lavender said. “I am sure that, as with all intelligent creatures, they have serious disagreements, but the friends haven’t witnessed that escalate to true violence.” She looked contemplatively at the audience. “I believe that this is because they are so long lived. By the time they get old enough to have these emotions they have lived long enough, and had enough experiences, that they realize how precious each life is.”

In the VIP box Seamus leaned into Hermione and whispered, “She’s been hanging around you too much.”

“Just enough, I think,” Hermione replied smoothly, and Seamus chuckled.

On the pitch Katlyn had led Brighid to one side of the pitch while Lavender had led Dante to the other. “When they do come into conflict they generally wrestle to resolve it,” Katlyn told the crowd. “Dante and Brighid don’t really have any problems between them but they like to wrestle, and we thought you might like to see what that looks like.”

“Dante is marginally stronger,” Lavender said, “but Brighid, as I said, is very smart. So they are an even match.”

“When I first started I wondered how they managed not to break their wings,” Katlyn said. “But then I learned more about how the Kind are made. When they tuck their wings, as they have done here, you can see a fold of skin that covers them and protects them. We call those the wing guards. What most people don’t know is that there are scales that act much like armor covering the wing guards, so when you see Dante or Brighid succeed in getting their opponent onto their back, don’t worry, They aren’t being harmed,” She snickered. “Other than their pride.”

Katlyn and Lavender walked to opposite edges of the pitch and drew their wands. “Katlyn is eleven now and, as you can see, we’ve been to Olivander’s,” Lavender said, and the crowd applauded. “She has permission from the Wizengamot to use magic here and at the reserve. You may see her perform some rather advanced charms as I’ve had to teach her some for protection. Hopefully we won’t have a need, but for safety she must have her wand out and ready.”

“There are times when they get so caught up in their play they can lose track of where we are,” Katlyn said. “So we need to be able to get out of the way of shield ourselves. Lavender has taught me the hopping charm and the shield charm among others, and you may see us use both today.” She looked around the stadium. “It’s actually very small in here compared to the common field.”

While Lavender and Katlyn talked the two dragons flexed and stretched. “Dante, Brighid, are you ready?” Lavender asked the dragons. They stomped their fore feet and roared their readiness. The audience gasped at the sound and its volume. Lavender looked sideways at the crowd. “Rather loud, isn’t it?” she asked. 

They murmured and shook their heads in wonder.

“Alright,” Katlyn called out. “Back in the days of Merlyn the signal to start a match was… LAY ON!”

Brighid charged straight at Dante. The horntail braced himself and when the Welshie was almost to him he reared. At the same time Brighid reared and they interlocked their front claws. Brighid’s momentum pushed Dante back and his rear claws dug eight two foot deep trenches ten feet long as she pushed him backwards. The two dragons roared simultaneously, and there was a quick side to side rock as Dante tried to tip Brighid over. Then Brighid brought her tail around her right side and wrapped it around Dante’s left heal. She pushed him toward that side and he couldn’t move that foot to keep his balance. With a surprised roar he toppled to the ground and Brighid pinned him and licked his face.

“One for Brighid!” Katlyn cried. “That was a new move, that was.”

Dante chuckled and licked Brighid’s face as she let him up. He snorted and burnt a small patch of grass with an unintentional puff of fire as he walked back to his place.

Lavender laughed. “As I said, Brighid is smart, but Dante is a quick study. Let’s see if she can pull that trick off again.”

Dante clawed the turf on his spot as Brighid returned to hers. “Are you ready!” Katlyn called again. The two dragons snorted their reply. “LAY ON!”

Once again the two dragons crashed together and interlocked their claws. Brighid brought her tail around and again wrapped it around Dante’s heal, but this time when she pushed him toward his left side he lifted her completely of the ground and pushed her into the air. She grappled with his claws and took him  with her as they sailed across the pitch toward the shields. They came down directly on top of Katlyn, and the audience screamed. 

In the VIP box Seamus sat calmly while pandemonium broke out around him. Luna and Hermione looked at him with panicked eyes, and he chuckled. Pointing to Lavender who stood with crossed arms, tapping her foot, he asked, “And just who’s been teaching her?” with a smug expression and nodded his head towards the pitch.

Dante and Brighid floated up off the ground. Under them a shimmering bubble of force surrounded Katlyn. Her eyes were closed in concentration as she levitated the two dragons a few yards away and lowered them gently to the turf. There was a moment of stunned silence and then a deafening cheer.

After a moment Lavender held up her hand to quiet the crowd. “Lovegood?” she called.

“Yes, Master Brown,” Luna’s magically amplified voice answered back happily from the VIP booth.

“The difference in the _Leviosa_ charm between a feather and a dragon is?”

“Only in your mind, Master Brown,” Luna said, looking directly at Seamus with a smile.

“Ten to Ravenclaw,” Lavender said chuckling.

“Had you wondering there for a bit, did I” Katlyn laughed. “Aye, well as Lavender said there’s a fair few charms you have to know to work with the Kind.”

A relived laugh went through the crowd.

“That was one for Dante. You want a tie breaker?” Katlyn asked them.

They cheered their response.

Dante and Brighid walked back to their ends and set themselves. “Alright Dante, Brighid, once more, LAY ON!” Katlyn shouted.

It was more delicate. Dante approached Brighid in a cautious walk, and she bobbed her head side to side as they to circle each other. Dante leapt forward and Brighid caught his claws in hers. He tried to shove her back ward and tip her to her right but she countered with a quick few steps back and a tip of her shoulders to the left. He overcorrected and started falling to his right. Brighid, caught off guard by her sudden success fell with him and they landed side by side. She licked his face and chuckled as he licked hers, then they wound there neck together and purred.

“Okay, break it up you two, this is a family show,” Lavender said, and laughed herself. “Call it a draw!” she proclaimed to the audience.

Dante and Brighid rose to their feet and Katlyn walked to Brighid’s side. “How about a round for our friends,” she asked the crowd and they cheered again. She turned to Lavender and nodded, Lavender nodded back. “Now please welcome back to the pitch our assistants, Sandra Wormwood, Jason Heathman, and Elise Monforte!” The three children ran out onto the pitch and waved to the cheering crowd, and then they went to Katlyn and stood next to her and Brighid.

“Thank you all for coming today,” Lavender told the Audience. ”Did you have a good time?” she asked, and she smiled as they thundered their affirmative. “Once again we, the Dragon Friends, would ask you to help us save the Kind. Please buy only stamped and authorized dragon products from us. Please don’t eat our friends, and please tell your Wizengamot representative to vote for the new laws Mrs. Weasley is proposing that ensure our friends safety.” The crowd enthusiastically cheered their assent. 

While Lavender spoke to the crowd Katlyn helped her three new friends climb aboard Brighid. They sat in a row down her back with Katlyn in the lead. Lavender bowed her head and then climbed aboard Dante. The orchestra that had been silent for the bouts between Dante and Brighid started up again. It was a slow and thoughtful tune, reminiscent of the sea. The dragons took flight with their human cargo, and Katlyn began to sing.

“There were twa bonnie maids, and three bonnie maidens,   
Cam' ower the Minch, and cam' ower the main,   
Wi' the wind for their way and the corrie for their hame,   
And they're dearly welcome tae Skye again.”

 

Those in the audience that knew the song were taken by the slower, more melodic arrangement of the classic tune

 

“Come alang, come alang, wi' your boatie and your song,   
Tae my hey! bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maids!   
The nicht, it is dark, and the dragon hunters’ gane,   
And you're dearly welcome tae Skye again.” 

 

They circled the pitch as she sang; the three assistants had indelible smiles as they waved to the crowd.

“There is Brighid, my honey, sae neat and sae bonnie,   
And Dante that is tall, and handsome withall.   
Take Asgre’ for my Queen and Horatius for my King   
And they're dearly welcome tae Skye again.“

The applause was nonstop. People stood and clapped and cheered as they passed.

 

“There's a wind on the tree, and a ship on the sea,   
Tae my hey! bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maids! 

 

They stated their climb out of the stadium and into the sky as Katlyn finished with a powerful rendition of the final lines.

  
By the great Hebridean’s roost I will watch o'er the main,   
And you're dearly welcome tae Skye again!” 

 

The orchestra reprised the last part of the melody, and then finished in a dynamic flourish as the dragons disappeared from sight. The audience applauded, cheered, and stomped while Pansy trotted onto the pitch. “YES!” she proclaimed. “Now that was truly special!” The crowded cheered even louder. “And they’re not yet finished today. However Lavender, Katlyn, Elise, Jason, and Sandra will be available for autographs at the large structure you will find to the left of the exits. If you will reach under your seat you will find a card with a time on it charmed to the underside. These are times reserved for your section of the stands. Pansy waited while the crowd found their cards. “I ask that, because there are twenty-two-thousand of you, only the school age children queue for the autographs. There is plenty of room in the enclosure to see Dante and Brighid from a closer perspective, and ten of the Dragon Friends have accompanied Katlyn and Lavender here to answer your questions.” 

Pansy looked out into the stands and shook her head at the pure absurdity of her situation. She, Pansy Parkinson Greymartin, Slytherin princess, was raising money quite successfully to help Muggleborns and Half-bloods. Her parents at one point would have been horrified, now they marveled at their daughter’s acumen. “How about that orchestra?” she asked, indicating a cluster of musicians in a shallow pit under the VIP box. As the audience applauded she introduced them. “Under the baton of Leopold Andante we have Ellen Joy, Concertmaster, leading the Hogwarts Alumni Symphony Orchestra.” The musicians stood and bowed.

She smiled twirled in place, grinning in pure joy. “Thank you all for coming this afternoon and supporting United Wizarding Charities. I don’t know how Lavender and Kat will top this, but I trust you will all be here next year to find out. We have to do a bit of repair to the pitch, and then I expect to see everyone back in their seats in few hours for the Fourth Annual United Charities Men Verses Women All Star Quidditch Match! Thank you again, and good afternoon.”


	18. The Island

All’s Fair

The Island

 

“Thank you for coming, Your Highness,” Lavender said, taking the red headed woman’s hand.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” The Duchess replied. “You saved my husband, and”-she smirked and whispered-“Diana always said Wizarding weddings were the best anyway; Much more fun.”

Lavender squeezed Sarah’s hand and smiled. “She knew your divorce was a sham, yes?”

The Duchess of York nodded. “Oh yes, the only ones without a clue seem to be the press,” She looked into the great hall of the reserve with a contemplative look. “I found that, after the birth of the girls, I was expected to leave them with nannies and such. I wasn’t about to let someone else raise my children while I was of being a ‘Royal’,” She sniggered “Andrew thought this up, and it worked perfectly. My god, we still live in the same house and sleep in the same bed. How thick can they be?”

Lavender laughed with her new friend. “Well, _we_ have this woman named Rita Skeeter…” she said and laughed some more.

“Is Prince William enjoying himself?” Seamus asked.

“It’s my nephew’s first introduction to his wizarding subjects,” The Duke replied from his wife’s side. “He’s actually taking it all quite well.” He chuckled. “Although, even though I warned him about the dragons…” he laughed again and rolled his eyes.

“He asked me a few minutes ago if I’d take him up on Horatius,” Katlyn said from Lavender’s other side and giggled.

“What did you say?” the Duchess asked.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Katlyn said honestly, and the adults chortled.

“Where are the three amigos?” Lavender asked Katlyn as she straightened her apprentice’s flower crown.

Katlyn looked at the Duchess. “Well, um, your daughters wanted to see the chicks…”

Sarah closed her eyes and shook her head. “I assume they’ll be safe.”

“Oh, aye,” Katlyn told her. “Gavina loves Sandra and Jason, and she thinks Elise is hers. They’ll be perfectly fine. We got some jackets and trousers for them before they went out to the port box.”

The Duchess laughed. “They’ll certainly have a tale to tell no one.”

Seamus sniggered. “When did you first find out about us,” he asked the royals.

“I was told at thirteen,” Andrew replied. “That’s when my mother was told, that’s when her father was told. We all get a rather intense introduction to our real world at that age.” He smiled at his wife. “I told Sarah a few weeks before the wedding.”

“Diana already knew before she married Prince Charles,” Sarah told them. “Do you know Carl Lehey?”

Seamus and Lavender shook their heads. “I do,” Hermione said from a few feet away where she stood next to Parvati. “He works at the Ministry in the customs department.”

“He was Diana’s favorite cousin. They grew up together, and she was there when his magic expressed the first time,” the Duchess told them with a sad smile. “Muggle born you call them, correct.”

Lavender smiled. “As is Hermione, Your Highness.” She looked slyly at her friend. “Smartest witch I know.”

 

~(*)~

 

Seamus stood at the head of the reception line and reflected on the ceremony. Katlyn had sung marvelously as first Parvati and then Lavender had walked down the aisle to the small raised platform in the great hall of the reserve. Dean had relieved Seamus’ tension with a ribald joke just as Lavender had appeared in the doorway, and then his nervous smile had turned joyous. The dress was beautiful in its simplicity.  White satin and lace made up the bodice, and a floor length skirt of satin, taffeta, and ribbon finished the outfit. He was in a fine tuxedo, with a dress robe outer draped across his shoulders.

It was rather a lot larger and more posh wedding than they had intended, but the Minister had pointed out that with the Duke and Duchess of York, their children, and the future King coming, the ceremony should be a bit more than two people getting married in a dining hall. As he had insisted on officiating, the Minister got his way. The Dragon Friends, aware of their high profile guests, had gone full on. The great hall of the Whales Dragon Reserve had been transformed into a palace of flowers, evergreen boughs, and red and gold ribbon. The benches and stout tables had been cleared away, and rows of neatly arranged chairs had taken their place. A carpet of green led from the huge double doors to the small platform, and lavender and rose petals were strewn over the entire floor.

His mother, his mother’s parents, his two uncles on his mum’s side, his brother, and father had been in the front row on his side of the aisle. His Auror friends, Pansy and her husband, Luna, and a few more distant family members filled out the rest. Only her grandparents remained of her family to sit on her side, but her friends would not let them be her only representation. Every one of her house mates but Parvati, who stood next to her, sat on Lavender’s side, as did the attending Royals and Mr. Blair. The Mclellens also chose Lavender’s side.

The vows, the rings, the bonding of the wands; all of it was a blur except for the kiss. That he would remember his whole life. “Kiss your wife, Auror Finnigan,” the Minister had commanded, and Seamus had happily complied. 

 

~(*)~

 

Asgre and Horatius blasted back into reality over the South Pacific. Thousands of small islands dotted the ocean, and Lavender and Seamus had asked Hermione and Luna pick one for their honeymoon hideout as a wedding gift. Jaluit Atoll, a ring of small islands twenty miles across, was spread out beneath them. At the north end of the atoll was a small one hundred by two hundred yard jungled island surrounded by sand and coral. Hermione, Neville and Luna had been there earlier in the month establishing the anti Muggle charms and setting up their wedding present for Seamus and Lavender. As Asgre followed Horatius, swooping low over the small patch of green amid the blue, they could see a large two story pavilion sat in a small clearing near the lagoon side of the island. A strip of sugar sand separate the forest from the lagoon, and the dragons alit on that beach.

“Welcome to Jaluit, this is Urbett Island,” Hermione said as she dismounted from Horatius. “As you saw, the pavilion is right this way.” She smiled broadly. “Let me show you around.”

While Hermione led Lavender and Seamus down a short trail to their honeymoon home, Katlyn dropped her outer robe to the sand revealing a one piece swimming costume. With a squeal she ran into the water followed closely by the two dragons. While Asgre rolled in the surf, scrubbing her scales in the wet sand, Horatius swam out into the deeper water of the lagoon and breached creating a large wave that Katlyn bodysurfed onto the shore. Laughing with delight, she picked herself up off the sand and ran into the ocean once again.

At the pavilion Hermione gazed on in satisfaction as her housemates gaped at her and Luna’s handiwork. “How long were you three here?” Lavender said in wonder.

The tent was a small palace. The ground floor had a large kitchen, dining room, living area with an enclosed loo. A few posts held up the second floor and provided vertical structure for walls around the loo and a portion of the kitchen. Near the kitchen area a set of stairs led up to the second floor that held the bed room and master bath. Upstairs, at the peak of the roof, a chandelier hung directly over the bed with both lights and a fan to cool them. The furniture was typical of the South Seas, white rattan supports with soft cushions and fabrics. A gentle breeze wafted through the tops of the trees and cooled them, as they looked out over the lagoon from the balcony and watched Katlyn play in the water with the two dragons.

“Well done, Hermione,” Seamus said. “Thank you.”

“As I recall your request to Luna and I was ‘sun, sand, surf and solitude’,” Hermione said with a smile. “Urbett delivers all four in abundance. We’re just about as far from England as you can get, and your nearest neighbors are the Jacklicks. They are the wizarding family that owns Urbett and the next three islands south. They live on Nanij, the third one south, and if you want to go into town.” She chuckled. “Such as it is, Jabor is twenty miles south. The native Marshall Islanders are very conservative, so cover up if you do go down to Jabor, or even out from under the wards really.”

Hermione grinned wickedly. “You don’t need to, though.  Everything’s here you might want for a whole week and more, Katlyn and I will be back this time next Saturday to get you. In the meantime, there’s cooling cabinets stuffed with food, water, and wine, a wireless we’ve set to a nice channel that plays music from the nineteen forties, and nothing else to do but enjoy what you requested.” She giggled in a very un-Hermione way. “When you’re not enjoying each other,” she muttered. “Oh, and there’s one entire cabinet full of deserts.” She smiled and shook her head. “Molly kind of went overboard and baked for a week.”

Lavender hugged her. “Thanks, Hermione. You’re the best, you and Luna,” she said. “Parv had _so_ much to do; I just couldn’t ask this of her on top of all the other wedding stuff.” Lavender laughed. “I thought she was going the Thickey ward with Lockhart when she found out Sarah, Andrew, and Prince William were coming. So thank you so much.”

“Don’t forget Nev. Wait till you see what he got up to out there in the jungle,” Hermione said, and cupped Lavender’s cheek. She just stared at her friend with a knowing smile on her face, and a look of understanding at how deep their friendship had become passed between them. Parvati would always be a sister to Lavender, as Ginny would be to Hermione, but Hermione was becoming her greatest friend, and Lavender felt the same was happening with Hermione. “Shay, why don’t you set some cheese and wine out?  I need to show your wife one last thing,” Hermione said.

While Seamus descended the stairs Hermione led Lavender to the closet area in the master suite. It looked like the inside of an Agent Provocateur shop. Every color and style of lingerie hung in rows on one side. Various “accessories” sat on shelves opposite the skimpy clothing. Leather and silk whips, satin ribbons, a feather duster, blindfolds, masks, a swing, an a few bottles of brightly colored liquid that proclaimed various flavors and effects occupied two of the shelves. On the lower sheves rows of provocatively styled shoes sat tempting Lavender to try them. “I expect you to get around to all of these whilst I’m away,” Hermione said in her prefect voice, and then chuckled. “Come on; let me show you the bath.”

The master bath contained a combination tub and shower that could hold at least four people. “Room to spread out,” Hermione said with a smirk. Potions for bubbles and other bath soaps and scents lined the edge of the massive basin. Hermione leaned over the side of the tub, pulled on a panel, and a large seat folded down out of the wall. She waggled her eyebrows at Lavender, wordlessly turned, and left the bath area. Lavender chuckled to herself and followed her down the stairs.

 

~(*)~

 

The percussive thunderclap announced Katlyn, Hermione, and Horatius Apparating back to Whales. Seamus turned to his _wife,_ and a small tear of happiness trailed down his cheek. “I love you,” he said in a whisper. “So much, me beautiful wife.”

Lavender just smiled back and wiped the tear from his cheek. She took his hand and led him from the balcony to the bed in the middle of the large upper floor of the pavilion. Her fingers bushed along his fringe as she looked into his eyes, hers reflecting back the love she found there. The top button of his shirt opened easily, and she kissed his chest, and then again as the next button and the one after that parted. 

It was early morning in the Marshall Islands. At the north end of the loop that made up Jaluit Atoll the island of Urbett sat like an emerald mounted in a multicolored coral setting. On the sandy beach a large green black lump snored lightly. In the forest behind the sleeping dragon, just a hundred feet from the water, shouts, squeals, and laughter came from the large pavilion. Freed from any care about being heard, the two occupants were free to declare their love as loudly as they liked.

Lavender shivered and shook under him as she came again. The small, extremely sexy bits of lingerie she had worn under the simple after wedding dress were long gone, and they were both naked and reveling in each other. After Lavender had removed everything but his boxers Seamus swept her from her feet and deposited her on the bed. He removed her stockings from her garter one at a time and tossed them near the basket meant as a hamper. The dress zipped open completely at the back and came away in one piece, leaving her in a very skimpy red and black lace bra, belt, and knickers. He, with great patience, did not rip them from her.

Seamus had traced the faint white shadows of her scars, kissing and caressing them like the badges of honor that they were, and she had done the same. They were, neither one, unmarked by time, but they saw in their partner perfection. Each of the white lines and blotches on her side, neck, and leg were testaments to her courage and reminders of her strength. For his part, small scars on his face, and the multitude over the rest of his body, told her of a man who would never give up the good fight.

Lavender raked her fingernails down his back just as she now knew he liked. He growled and she rolled them over so that she could take control. She rocked slowly, reveling in the time they had, scraping her nails down his chest to elicit another growl, and then picking up the pace and squeezing him hard with her inner muscles as they crested together and washed ashore on a sea of bliss.

 

~(*)~

 

Under a large umbrella in a short beach chair Seamus sat and contemplated the surf and life. The ocean side of the island had, at low tide, a beach two hundred feet wide and littered with broken coral. The sand was just as soft as the lagoon side but was not as pristine. In addition to the bits of coral, ranging from just barely not sand to pieces of coral head ten feet across, there were shells, strands of seaweed, an occasional fishing float, and thousands of bits of plastic. On their second day they had decided that they would scour the beach and remove all the plastic as they walked and talked. On this, their third day, they had cleared the whole of the north end by midday and were relaxing and watching the ships on the horizon.

He heard the soft rustlings on the sand that were his wife’s footsteps, and he turned back toward the island. Lavender was walking across the strand toward him while levitating a tray of drinks and food in front of her. She was dressed, as she had taken to, in practically nothing. A bikini that Seamus would later describe to Ron as “three little pieces of fabric and some string” along with a pair of sand slippers and a pair of muggle sunglasses comprised the entirety of her clothing. He just stared. Today’s version of the bikini was printed with the union jack. _Worse than naked, that is,_ he thought and laughed.

He was no better. After the middle of the second day he wore nothing but a snug pair of swimming briefs, a pair of sunglasses matching Lavender’s, and his sand shoes. They cast a modified _Impervious_ on each other every morning, and so they had avoided the dreaded early sunburn. Even so the charm allowed them to tan at a very fast rate. Lavender was darker that he had ever seen her, and her hair had sun bleached to the point where she looked Luna’s twin. His hair had gone the color of fire lit gold, and he had joked that all his freckles had simply merged into a tan of sorts. The tray of snacks and drinks landed lightly on the short table between the two chairs. She kissed him rather sensually and sat in her chair.

“Shay?” she asked.

“Yes, Love?”

“Every year,” she said.

He chuckled. “Done and done, me one true love.” He turned to her. “First week of September every year, we come back to Urbett.”

“Provided Kingsley doesn’t have you off somewhere freezing your arse off,” she said snidely.

“Ah, Aye. Well, there’s something sort of skipped my mind the last few days,” he said. “Been a bit distracted.”

She sniggered, leaned over, and kissed him. Then she drug her tongue lightly down his neck and nipped his collar bone. “What could have possibly distracted the great Auror, Sir Seamus Finnigan?” she asked as she licked his left nipple.

“Whaaa..”

She giggled. “Skipped your mind, Shay?”

“Oh, oh yeah. Kingsley sacked me,” he said.

“What!” She said surprised.

He laughed. “It’s okay he hired me a second later.”

She looked at him, bemused.

“He said to me, he says,” and he adopted his very accurate impersonation of The Minister, “’Finnigan, I’ve seen this look in a young man’s eye’s before. I can’t say I’m sorry you’ve found love, that young lady over there in the white dress deserves every happiness, and so do you, but that means your Auror career is over.’ I asked him why and he says, ‘You’ll be thinking about her, worrying about leaving her a widow, and that’ll slow you down, make you second guess. I won’t have that on my conscience.’”

“So what did he hire you to do?” Lavender asked.

“You’re looking at the new lead instructor at the field training academy,” said and smiled. “It’s outside of Llansannan, twenty miles from the reserve. I’ll be home for dinner most nights before you.” He picked up his drink and held it up to toast with her.

She leaned back, took up hers, and tapped his. “I love that man. To lead instructor Finnigan,” she said, and sipped the straw. “MMmm, these are so good.”

“Me wife, mistress of the blender,” he said and kissed her. “Good thing we both have Muggle in our background, we’d have never discovered these.” He held up his glass again.

The first day of exploring the island they had found that the very center had a small grove of fruit trees and a message from Neville. Lavender had picked an orange from one of the trees and the sand swirled up to form a moving image of Neville. “Congratulations, fellow Gryffindors!” it said. “Thought you might like some fresh fruit, so I grew this little grove for you.”

It wasn’t little. Pineapple plants along with Mango, lemon, breadfruit, orange, lime, passion fruit, and banana trees populated a patch over an acre in size. It was like waking through a tropical fruit market. The rest of the island was dressed in large trees with stout wide leaves, smaller trees that gave a starchy fruit, and coconut palms. Lavender had found a muggle blender in the kitchen area and had promptly decided to experiment with fruits and rum. Her second try had resulted in what they referred to as their “island dream”; The flesh of half a mango, one banana, the juice of a lime, two oranges, and a lemon, a quarter of a coconut, some pineapple juice, and six shots of rum. It generally filled two large glasses with a thick, fruity concoction that needed to be treated with care.

Seamus plucked a strawberry from the tray and held it out for his wife. She nibbled it from his hand, her lips lightly brushing his fingers.  She picked up a small slice of mango wrapped in prosciutto and popped it in his mouth. He fed her a slice of apple smeared with an herbed cream cheese, and she responded with a chunk of coconut soaked in lime juice and dusted with a spicy chili powder. 

One morsel lead to another, and soon the platter was empty and discarded on the sand… along with their clothes. The magical umbrella hovered over them as the slowly made love for the second time that day. Seamus brought here twice to the crest of that sugar coated hill and let her slide the whole way down before bringing her back again. Her hands fisted in the sand, and she shuddered and bucked as he worked his tongue lips and fingers. Finally a loud shriek echoed off the trees on the ocean side of the island, and she collapsed on her back panting heavily.

“Oh my god, Shay,” she said, and he snickered.

“Had to make sure I know what you like,” he said as he kissed his way from just below her navel to her left breast.

“Well, now it’s my turn,” she said, and pushed him onto his back.

 

~(*)~

“Where’s Asgre?” Seamus asked. It was day five.

Lavender chuckled. They were standing on the ocean side balcony watching the boats from Jabor pass as they headed into the fishing grounds north of the atoll. “She’s out swimming with the whales.”

“Made herself some friends, eh?” Seamus said and hugged his naked wife from behind to his equally naked person. 

“She showed me what happened on Monday morning last night.” Lavender said as she snuggled into her husband’s embrace. “She was out there off shore doing some deep diving when she heard the commotion from the whales. They were at the surface, and one older female was helping a new mother give birth. The sharks were gathering and harassing them when Asgre arrived.”

“What’d she do?”

“They were going to kill the calf as soon as it was born, Asgre was certain, so she ate a few of the sharks.”

Seamus laughed. “Expedient! Bet it worked.”

Lavender chuckled herself, and nodded. “They scattered alright. The whales were understandably nervous until Asgre made it plain she was there to help.”

“Calf okay?”

Lavender closed her eyes and smiled. “Yes. He’s nursing well and doing fine. Asgre really likes the whales, and they like her.”

Seamus chuckled and changed topics. “Sorting today.”

“I wonder where the hat will put them.” Lavender said as she rubbed his arm.

“‘m hoping Gryffindor o’ course,” Seamus said.

“As am I, but Kat could be sorted into any of them.”

“Sandy too,” Seamus said. “Be nice if they were in Gryffindor with Jason though.”

Lavender nodded. “They’ll be bringing Elise over for the Hogwarts presentation day.”

Seamus laughed. “I assume we’ll be there.”

“In the stands,” Lavender said. “Kat and the three amigos can handle showing Horatius and the chicks to the students.”

“Picked the right three there, you did.”

Lavender smirked. “Fate picked them, and she did one a hell of a job.” She shook her head. “Elise is amazing. She and Malcolm have almost as deep a bond as Kat and I do with Horatius and Asgre.”

“Aye, I know. Sandy and Jason aren’t far behind either. Charlie was saying the other day that he’s never seen the Kind take to strangers the way they took to the kids, and the way the chicks are around them is remarkable,” Seamus said.

“Horatius told Kat and the kids to pass the memories to the chicks that he shares with them in their sessions.” Lavender said in a contemplative tone. “He thinks, and I think he’s right, that it will shorten maturation process. I can already see it.”

“Next year’s show ‘ll be something now, won’t it?”

Lavender smirked and nodded. “Already got some ideas.”

 

~(*)~

 

The sun crept up over the edge of the ocean, its first rays slanting through the gauzy curtains and warming the exposed skin of the two sleeping figures on the large bed. Around the island the nocturnal residents slunk back to their dens while the rest of the wildlife greeted the day. Long ago someone had brought a pair of ring necked parrots to Jabor. In the ensuing years they had established small flocks on almost all the islands. In addition to the musical chatter of the parrots, the native sea birds squawked, chirped, and cawed as they rose from their slumber. As the noise reached its daily crescendo, the two people began to stir.

“That’s some alarm,” Seamus said groggily.

“Mmmm,” the lump next to him said. Her hand snaked across his body and hugged him. “Morning,” she said, and kissed his cheek. “Love you.”

“I love you to, me lass,” he said and hugged her back. “Two more days. I’ll miss it.”

“We could stay.”

He laughed. “Kat and Kingsley ‘d be fair disappointed, don’t you think?”

As Lavender chuckled a medium sized owl landed on the railing of their balcony and hooted at them. “How the bloody hell did you get here?” Seamus asked the creature. It hooted again and held up its foot.  “Okay, okay I’m coming,” he said, climbed out of his wife’s embrace, and crossed to the balcony.

_Yokwe!_

_Ej et am mour!_

_We hope you are enjoying Jaluit._

_I am Arnold_ _ Jacklick, and my wife and I would love to invite you and your magnificent dragon to our home. We are one of the three wizarding families that live here in Jaluit, and we are just south of you on Nanij. Olan will show you the way if you desire to dine with us. _

_ Please accept our hospitality and join our family for dinner. _

__

_ Arnold and Marine Jacklick. _

 

 

~(*)~

 

Nona Jacklick had just turned thirteen three days earlier. Her father had said he was working on a huge surprise for her, and he had sent her to wait on the lagoon side of Nanij. Being the eldest of the Jacklick children had its privileges and a few drawbacks. She was expected to be a second mother to the other four, but with that responsibility came a certain kind of independence. She had studied the correspondence courses from Wizen Wonders thoroughly, and she had received good marks for her efforts, but she wanted more. Nona wanted to know what snow felt like; she wanted to see London and New York and Paris, but most of all she wanted to fly.

Her father had not bought her a broom because he himself had never had one, and in fact, no one on Jaluit had. He had explained to her that, with no one to teach her, it was unsafe. She had fought back with the stellar scores she had got from Wizen Wonders, but her father was firm, a broom was something that couldn’t be learned from books, and so that dream had died. 

The enchanted surf board was a fair, but not wholly satisfying, compromise. As she sat on the board, dangling her legs in the water, Olan screeched at her. She looked up as he rounded the northern point of Nanij, just below the tree line. She always loved the sight of her owl in flight, and then the breath was sucked from her body.

A roar that would be in her memory till the day, long in the future, that she passed, sounded, and Asgre rounded the end of the island. Nona had seen large animals before, she had floated over whales on her board out in the open ocean, she had seen whale sharks and other large sea creatures, but the giant animal that landed on the beach in front of her was astounding; as were the two people, dressed all in white, who lightly leapt from the dragon’s shoulders.

Shaking from head toe she directed the board to the beach. As it slid up on the sand she got off and walked toward the strangers. She would have fled in terror but for the smiles on the faces of the man and the woman. Still, she trembled all over when the dragon turned to her. She opened her mouth to try to speak, but all that emerged was a choked squawk.

“You must be Nona Jacklick,” The blonde woman said. “Your father said you’d be happy to meet us,” she said and smirked. “Well, us and Asgre.”

Nona nodded, open mouthed and gaping.

Lavender chuckled. This was one of the most entertaining things she got to do, and the fact Asgre enjoyed it just as much was a source of joy for them both.

 “Hello, Nona,” Seamus said. “Me name’s Seamus Finnigan.” He indicated Lavender. “This is me wife”-he paused and smile broadly-“ Lavender, and this is our friend, Asgre.”

Nona knew exactly who was in front of her. She had read the International Prophet articles on the special presentations, and she had saved her birthday and Christmas money for months so that she could order the commemorative programs from United Charities. “You’re Lavender Brown,” Nona said in awe.

“Believe I said that,” Seamus said, chuckling under his breath.

“And this, this is Asgre,” Nona finished in a whisper.

“Said that too, I did.”

While Seamus snickered Lavender held out her hand. “Would you like to meet her?” she asked.

Nona was immersed in the memories. She was flying in the clouds, she was fighting alongside her Arouk, Delphi, in a battle long ago, she watched as Brighid struggled from her shell, and she wept tears of sorrow into Horatius’ eyes. Lavender held her hand tightly as she experienced the deep link. It was only a few minutes, but for Nona it felt like hours. When Lavender released her hand Nona sagged to the sand and stared at nothing for a bit. Then she looked at Asgre. “Thank you for sharing with me. I will treasure it always.”

“Your father invited us for dinner,” Lavender told her. “But he also wrote that you have been pestering him for a broom. Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘pestering’,” Nona said with an embarrassed smile.

“More like regular reminding?” Seamus said with a smirk of his own.

She nodded and hung her head still grinning. Lavender reached down, grasped her hand, and pulled the girl to her feet. “Well, Asgre is vastly superior to just a broom.”

 

It was better than she had imagined… by far. After soaring through the clouds for nearly half an hour she and Asgre dove to within a few yards of the ocean, and then flew up next to the breaching whales as the dolphins played around them. Flying back toward the atoll, they swooped low over the islands of Nanij, Bukantorak, Lonone, and Urbett. Nona could make out beaches and clearings she had played in her whole life from the back of the wonderful friend she was riding, and she cried with joy.

                

~(*)~

 

“RISE AND SHINE MR. FINNIGAN!” a voice from out of his past yelled, and he leapt to his feet looking for his robes in the dawn gloom. Lavender laughed as she slid naked from their bed, crossed to the closet area, and gathered their travelling clothes. He was still coming awake but had started to chuckle himself.

“That was uncalled for, Minerva!” he shouted down the stairway as he dressed, and he heard a very un-professorial giggle from his former head of house.

The scent of brewing coffee drew them down the stairs to find Hermione and their beloved Professor sitting at the kitchen table. “Good morning, Seamus, good morning Lavender,” Professor McGonagall said as they took their seats.

Hermione slid two mugs across the table to them, and then levitated the cream and sugar from her side of the table to theirs.

“Morning Headmistress,” Seamus said as he fixed his coffee. “Don’t take this wrong, but why are you here?”

“With two of my students Apparating to the opposite side of the earth, I thought it might be prudent to come along,” The professor said smoothly.

“Ah, I see,” Seamus said. “Well-reasoned I suppose, still… bullshit.” At her affronted look and Hermione’s gasp he laughed and tapped his chest. “Auror, in case you forgot.”

“I hadn’t forgotten, Mr. Finnigan,” Professor McGonagall said. Her eyes were lit mischievously.

“So, any one of the staff could have accompanied Katlyn and…” he paused and looked sideways at her. “Sandy here with her?” Seamus asked.

“Yes, Miss Wormwood has also accompanied us,” his former teacher said, and bowed her head once with an air of appreciation.

“Aye, well the two of them are very good at this, so there’s nothing to justify the Headmistress coming. Really you just came along to have the experience?” Seamus queried. “Didn’t you?”

The professor put her hand on Seamus’ shoulder. “I’m very proud of you, Mr. Finnigan,” she said. “Your deductive skills are excellent; however I do have one legitimate interest to look into while I’m here.”  She took up her cup and sipped. “Mr. Longbottom has inquired about filling Pomona’s position, as Aberforth is making and honest woman of her next year, and I understand Neville established an orchard for you on this island in a matter of a few weeks. Pomona would like to have a report on it from me. She is very impressed with that level of skill, and she thinks he would be an effective professor. I concur.” 

“That’s wonderful,” Lavender said, and laid her hand on Minerva’s. “Neville is as connected to plants as I am to the Kind. He’s a natural leader, though he’ll never admit it, and he’s just so good with people now. I can’t think of a better job for him.”

“Nor can I, Mrs. Finnigan, nor can I.”

Lavender turned to Hermione.” Had dinner with the Jacklicks day before yesterday,” she told her. “Wonderful folks, five kids, all magical, and the oldest, Nona? She’s quite the little adventuress, she is. Hopped up on Asgre and flew off like she’d been doing it whole life.”

“Yes,” Hermione said. “Arnold told me about her fearless nature. She’s been over the horizon on that board of hers. Scares the hell out of him sometimes, but he trusts she’ll be safe. Her scores have all been perfect, but he makes sure she carries her wand with her just in case.”

“Where does Miss Jacklick acquire her education?” Professor McGonagall asked.

“Wizen Wonders,” Hermione replied.

McGonagall nodded, her lips tight. “The Marshalls are an American protectorate, and as such the Americans should be providing a better education than a simple correspondence course,” she said curtly. “I will be speaking to the presidents of Angeles Ascendant and Denver Dominion about that. She should be there if she is as talented as you imply.”

Hermione turned to her mentor and friend. “Actually, I had an idea I wanted to talk to you about. I haven’t fully formed a plan, but I think she might be a good candidate for Hogwarts.”

Minerva raised her eyebrows in what her students had learned was her ‘go on’ expression.

Hermione continued. “Well, um… I want to bring Ron here.” She said and blushed. “I’ve talked with Arnold, and he has said I can leave the pavilion up for as long as we want. They only use Urbett as a garden, and since Nev did such a wonderful job on the fruit grove they said we can use the island whenever we want as long as we clear it in advance with him.”

“That’s great, Hermione,” Seamus said. “We talked with him as well. Lav and I want to come back every year for our anniversary. So first week in September is ours from now on, okay?”

Hermione grinned, and Seamus recognized her “witch with a brilliant plan” face.

“Done, Shay,” she said. “You see I’m going to propose that Arnold let this be the un-official Dumbledore’s Army retreat. We’ll pay him, and pay him well for its use.” She turned to Lavender. “You saw how poor they are?”

Lavender nodded. Though the Jacklicks had a comfortable home, it was still mostly made of concrete blocks, palm wood, with palm fronds and sheet steel for a roof. Amenities were simple and un-adorned. The children had little in the way of books and toys, and it had made her a bit self-conscious and sad, but she had observed how un-ashamedly happy they were just for their life in this South Sea paradise.

Hermione turned to Professor McGonagall. “With that income he should be able to pay the out of country tuition.” Minerva McGonagall often thought she knew just how brilliant and compasionate the young woman before her was, and then Hermione would say or do something that amazed her yet again. “Since you’re here I think we should just take care of it now. I’d like her and her younger sister to start this year if we can bring them back to Hogwarts for a late sorting.” She reached into her faithful beaded bag and retrieved a rather impressive pouch of galleons. “I’ll pay the fee for this year.”

“Not without us you won’t,” Lavender and Seamus said almost in chorus, and then they laughed.

 

~(*)~

 

In a swirl of love and happiness Seamus felt his consciousness merge with Lavender, Katlyn, Sandra, Hermione, Minerva, Nona, and Lisa, Nona’s eleven year old sister. He looked to his right where Sandra rode Brighid; Minerva grinning like a school girl nestled behind her. On his left Horatius spiraled into the blue with Katlyn, Hermione, and Lisa. He tightened his grip on his wife’s waist and Nona snuggled into his back. A vision formed in their minds of a beautiful castle under a half moon, the wave of desire to be there filled them, and as one they jumped into the void.

 There was the sound of thunder on a clear day, and then the sky above Jaluit was empty once more.

 

 


	19. The Training

All’s Fair

The Training

 

Part 1

The Sorting

(Sept 1 2005)

 

“Well, well, well, Katlyn Mclellen,” the hat said in her mind. “They’ve all been wondering about you. ‘Will she be in my house, my dorm? Is she what she appears? Will she rise at the full moon and kill us all?’ Some are fawning admirers, some are genuinely curious, and some are afraid.”

_I’m not._

“Ha, ha, ha, very good. Perhaps Slytherin then. You would be welcomed there, prized, worshiped even. The Dragon girl of Slytherin!”

_I don’t think that would be wise. I’ve found that I don’t like worship. Admiration is fine, worship is annoying._

“True, but you are cunning, relentless, and resourceful. Hallmarks of the Grey Dragon order of Slytherin.”

_Thank you, but I am more concerned about how best to help my friends and family than myself_

“Very well, and also very wise,” the hat continued. “Not self-serving enough for Slytherin, are you? Consider Hufflepuff, they would treat you as one of their own. Love you for who you are, guard you from those that would take advantage.”

_That would be nice. It would be peaceful, like the reserve_

“Yes you would thrive and do well there, but Gryffindor calls. _Dame_ Katlyn Mclellen, you are brave beyond measure. You have done things in your short life that many never do, and couldn’t do because of the fear that you have subdued.  Oh yes, Gryffindor calls.”

_That would also be good. I have a grandfather that was Gryffindor, and my family believes that is where I belong._

“I remember him, but, truth being told, you don’t need them. Your courage is in full flower, your character sound; no, Dame Katlyn Mclellen, Arouk to Horatius Lord of the Kind, you will need all the cleverness you can develop to succeed in the mission I see fate has set for you. The challenge awaits, and you are up to the task. Yes, you belong in the house of intellect, of imagining, the house of infinite possibilities. For you, Katlyn Mclellen… Ravenclaw!”

“Damn,” Professor Slughorn said quietly as he removed the hat.

Katlyn trotted down the steps and took a place at the Ravenclaw table. Several second years welcomed her along with Beverly Grandmount, Taryn Addams, George Farson, and Caledon Martin, the other first years so far. Katlyn watched as four other students were sorted, and then her friend Sandra Wormwood sat on the stool.

_Please_ Katlyn thought.

Slughorn placed the hat on Sandra’s head. _Put. Me. With. Kat!_ Sandra though as firmly as she could.

“We’re not going to discuss this?” the hat said full of mirth.

_NO!_

“Ha, ha, ha, very well,” the hat laughed in her mind, and then it kindly said, “as you wish, Miss Wormwood.”

“Ravenclaw!” the hat shouted, and Katlyn leapt to her feet. She and Sandra had become fast friends in the short two months between the Special Presentation and the first of September. Sandra’s parents had allowed her to visit the reserve every weekend, and she had spent one entire week there a month prior. The Kind loved her and so did Katlyn. She hugged her friend when she ran to Katlyn’s place at the Ravenclaw table. 

A few feet away, Jason Heathman, who shared Earl Potter’s birthday and was now a second year Gryffindor, swore quietly. He had visited the reserve nearly as much as Sandra, and had become good friends with both Katlyn and Sandra. He had hoped for them to be in his house. The third amigo, Elise, was just as frequent a visitor as Jason, but she would be attending Beauxbatons this year.

“We’ll see you plenty, Jason,” Sandra told him as she sat next to Katlyn.

He nodded, smiled and shrugged.

The last ten were sorted and then the Head Mistress stood behind the podium.

“Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. As always I encourage the upper year students to help the first years settle in and understand the workings of our most peculiar school. I ask those elder students to make sure the first years know the layout of the school, the passages and trick stairs, that they are not to enter the forbidden forest unless escorted, and that they will be expected to be in their dorms at eight and in their beds at ten unless they have special permission from their head of house. Also, please be firm that the elves and all the other magical beings they will encounter are to be treated with the same respect as any other person. In addition to these normal provisions, this year we have a few… celebrities.” She intentionally did not look at Katlyn. “They are here to learn, as you are here to learn. Do not harass, badger, fawn, or in any other way make a spectacle of yourself and embarrass them.” She smiled “Additionally there is a dragon living in the forest near professor Hagrid and his brother Grawp’s  home.” Hagrid beamed with happiness from his chair. “Do not under any circumstances seek him out. Miss Mclellen, Miss Wormwood, Miss Monforte, and Mr. Heathman will present him to you during a special care of magical creatures session for your year; do not try to find him at any other time.”

The Headmistress smiled broadly. “And now, as my distinguished predecessor and good friend would say, ‘let the feast begin’.”

 

Part 2

The Raid

(May 10 2008)

 

“Ah, good morning,” Seamus said to the small group of Auror trainees. “Happy to see you all. Sorry for the hour, but the bad guys don’t have any consideration for our schedules.” The two men and three women chuckled. “So, you’re thinking this is the standard training exercise this morning? It’s not. We’re off on your first actual mission. That being the case, I’ve brought, as I always do, some assistance.”

A tall blonde girl and an average height red headed girl stepped from the woods and smiled at the trainees. They were dressed in short leather jackets, black dragon skin trousers, and black leather boots. One of the women in the trainee group drew a startled breath.

“What’s this, take your daughters to work day?” one of the men asked.

Seamus laughed. “Aye, I’ll count that as one. Take you daughters to work day! Ha! I’ll be using that from now on. That’s rich that is.” He laughed again. “Aye, well, neither one is my daughter, but I’d be more than proud if either one was.”

“Stop talking, Jonas,” a brunette woman, the same woman that had gasped at the girl’s appearance, said.

“We’re not babysitters for a couple of forth years, Marla,” a raven haired woman said.

“Shut. Up, Alice,” The brunette woman said to the woman on her right.

“That’ll be two,” Seamus said. “They’re third years, and they’re not here to be baby sat. They’re here to do the sittin’. They’re here to make sure you live through this little learning experience. Either one of these two could easily take all five of you without breaking a sweat.”

Jonas Worthington laughed. “A couple of fifteen year olds?” the brunette woman elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Ow! Christ, Marla!” he nearly shouted.

Marla Estey looked up at him. “That”- she pointed to the blonde girl-“is Sandra Wormwood, and that”-she pointed to the red head-“is Katlyn Mclellen, you dumb arse. Did any of you idiots even go to the Special Presentations? I’ve been to all four of them, and you should be shitting yourselves. These are the dragon girls you stupid fucks!”

“Ooo, the dragon girls,” Jonas said in a sarcastic tone. “I’m scared.”

“Aye, you should be, “Seamus said as Sandra drew her wand. Marla drew a moment later. “And that’s three,” Seamus said. “Sandy, it’s Kat’s turn.”

Sandra looked deeply disappointed. “But he…”

Seamus laughed. “Aye, I know.” He turned to his trainees. “This has happened every time. Been close to two dozen now, and hasn’t been one group o’ you had sense enough to not to be disrespectful to the girls.” He shook his head. “Only one with a brain in this batch seems to be Estey here. She’s got her wand out, be best if the rest of you do the same or this’ll be quicker than usual.” Marla dropped into her enguard while her four classmates gaped at Seamus.

Katlyn drew her wand and stepped forward. “Lead instructor Finnigan is spot on,” she said to Jonas. “You should have your wand out because your opponents won’t ever ask this.” she looked at the recruits and grinned. “Are you ready?”

Marla looked terrified. “En guard, now!” she shouted and backed away.

Katlyn looked at the squad as they haltingly drew their wands, and she shook her head. _Sad lot, this,_ she thought to Sandra in the nearly constant link that they maintained between themselves.

_Kick this Jonas dumb fuck’s arse for me, would you please, Kat?_  Sandra sent back.

Katlyn grinned, nodded, and looked each recruit in the eye, saving Marla for last. She winked subtly at the brunette, and then she was just a blur of red and black. Lavender Brown’s most accomplished student more than a match for five inexperienced cadets. She got at least three spells off for every one of theirs.

First a shimmering bubble formed around her, and then three successive _Reductos_ took Jonas’ shield out and sent him flying across the small clearing. All the while she was using the hopping charm and bouncing around the small clearing, never giving the cadets a stationary target.

_Classic training defense,_ Sandra sent, as she rolled her eyes, folded her arms, and leaned against a tree. Katlyn nodded again as she spun, parried a curse from Marla, and strengthened her shield again.

 A blast came from her right and sailed past her as Katlyn shot a spell series at Alice and her companion. Then, still on the bounce, she reinforced her shield and barraged Marla and her partner again. She whirled and leapt, dancing around the clearing, always in motion as she had been taught. Another spell barrage, and Alice Williams and her shorter plumper companion Jane Mitchell’s shield collapsed. The following _Incarserous_ bound both women together. Katlyn caught the two wands from them, cast a reinforcement of her shield on the bounce, landed, and turned to face John Davies and Marla.

Davies fired spell after spell as Marla held her shield in place. “Excellent team work,” Katlyn said as she walked around them, deflecting Davies spells while continually testing Marla’s shield.

_Dumb Arse is back in_ Sandra sent.

Without looking behind her, Katlyn took Jonas off his feet with a stunner as he tried to rise. She cast Expelliarmus and bound him. “Stay put,” she said over her shoulder as she caught his wand. “So, as you can see, we’re at a stalemate. You can’t get through my shields and I can’t get through yours.” All the while she continued to circle them, bombarding their shield with _Reducto, Bombarda, Finite’_ and other spells. “However, as with all the recruits we’ve dealt with, you can be too dependent on magic for protection, as you are now, too convinced of your misappraisal of me, and, as I’m sure instructor Finnigan has mentioned, you should be in constant motion.” She shook her head and said. “Because you’re not as concerned as you should be about what’s under you.” She smiled knowingly at them as they glanced at the turf. Katlyn pushed more energy into her shield and then pointed her wand at the ground. A dozen or more roots burst out of the earth and with lightning speed wrapped like tentacles around the two remaining cadets. Katlyn cast E _xpelliarmus_ and caught their wands. 

The entire fight took forty two seconds.

“Well,” Seamus said as he stepped forward and appraised the recruits. “You’re not bleeding?” He looked surprised and impressed. “Good thing it was Kat’s turn. Sandy’s a wee bit rougher, and Jason...” He chuckled and raised his chin at Katlyn. “Let em’ up.”

Katlyn removed the body binds and tangle root charms from the cadets, and then she went back to her place next to Sandra.

As the cadets rose to their feet Seamus switched on his hard edged instructor personality. “Katlyn and Sandra here are better at this than you are,” he said as looked them all up and down. “By a lot. They’ve been studying with me for three years and going on missions for two. They are experienced, they are fast, they are smart, and they will save your life if needed.” He looked directly at Jonas Worthington. “If they give you an order you will obey it as if it were a command from God himself.” He wasn’t yelling, he wasn’t displaying anger, yet every single cadet shivered at his tone. Serious didn’t begin to describe it. “This will probably be the first time someone will really try to kill you, and Sandy and Kat are here to make sure that doesn’t happen. Do what they say and you will live. They haven’t lost one of you dumb arses yet.”

Seamus walked to Sandra’s side. “This is Miss Wormwood,” he said, and then indicated Katlyn. “And she is Dame Mclellen. You will address them exactly that way until they tell you otherwise.” He looked to his right. “Sandra, you’re up.”

Katlyn handed the five wands to Marla, who took her own, and then passed the bundle down the row of recruits. Sandra smirked and nudged her friend with her shoulder. _I like her._ “Today we are raiding an illegal potion making operation.” She said. “They are supplying a modified and highly addictive form of the calming draft to the Muggles in Dublin. Katlyn’s mother was approached several years ago by these same people, and she, of course, turned them down. She didn’t forget them though, and we’ve been tracking them since.”

She drew her wand, and with a silent incantation a map appeared floating in front of the cadets. “We will be Apparating here.” She indicated a spot on the map.” It’s an old manor house outside small village north of Dublin where they are currently set up. Lead instructor Finnigan’s friends, Lead Auror Weasley, and Senior Auror Potter discovered their hideout and factory thirty-seven hours ago. We are moving on them before they move the factory on us.”

Seamus nodded and put his hand on Sandra’s shoulder. “These two can Apparate just fine, but we’re not here to test them, we’re here to test you.” He smirked. “So far, average, just fair.” He turned to Marla “Estey, you take Kat and Sandy, set up the silencing charm, and secure the area.” He looked up at the other recruits. “After we give them five, Mitchell, you will take me and the rest o’ you will follow along.” 

Sandra showed them precisely where they were to Apparate to on the map, and then produced a few pictures of the area they would reappear in. She grasped Marla’s hand at the same time Katlyn took hers. “Let’s go,” she said, and they Disaparated.

 

~(*)~

 

Marla swayed a bit as they snapped back into the universe. “Still makes me a bit queasy,” she said as she straightened.

Sandra chuckled. “Jason still pukes sometimes too,” she said. “He’s getting better, you will as well.”

They stood on the crest of a hill in a small grove of trees overlooking a manicured garden. “Cast the protective enchantments _,”_ Katlyn said to Marla, and the recruit dutifully set about casting the _Muffliato_ and _Protego Maxima_ charms and securing the Apparition site.

_You got anything?_ Sandra asked. 

Katlyn nodded. _South, I can scent two of them. They sound like they’re about a hundred yards off._

“Should I do _Revelio?”_  Marla asked.

Sandra patted her on the back of the hand, and said, “Very good. Yes, you should absolutely do _Revelio.”_

Marla beamed back at Sandra and cast the charm. “There’s two…”

“About a hundred yards off that way,” Sandra said, pointing south. “Yeah, we know.”

Marla looked amazed. “How…”

Sandra nodded towards Katlyn. “Ni Arouk,” she said, and then she tapped her own chest. “Arouk Ta Noi. You don’t get to hide from us.”

“Wow,” Marla said, amazed. She looked at her watch and then back at Katlyn and Sandra. “One minute,” she told them.

“Tell instructor Finnigan we’re in the wind,” Katlyn said to Marla. She laid her hand on the older woman’s shoulder and smiled at her. “And tell the others about the two you’ve revealed. Sandy and I will be watching, but we won’t interfere unless you are in real danger. Good luck, Marla.”

Marla nodded proudly. “Thank you, Dame Mclellen, Miss Wormwood. It is a privilege.”

“Call me Kat,” Katlyn said with a smile as she walked away, melted into the foliage, and disappeared.

“Sandy,” Sandra said, and she too walked into the woods and vanished.

 

~(*)~

 

The two men walked straight into the trap set by the five recruits. Seamus smiled grimly as the men walked across the lawn toward him in the gloomy predawn light. A hedge wall hid the house from view and consequently it hid them from the house. His cadets were Disillusioned and spread out in a half circle behind him. Katlyn and Sandra were near he was sure, but they had yet to show themselves.

“Aye, G’ mornin’,” Seamus said as the men approached.

“You’re trespassing,” the larger of the two men said. “Who are you? How’d you get on the grounds? The gates are locked and you didn’t trip the alarms.”

“Apparated,” Seamus said with a smile. The men tried to draw their wands, but they sailed out of their hands and disappeared. “Aye, well, that wasn’t going to work. Worthington! Davies!”

“Yes, Lead Instructor?” the two said in unison.

Seamus conjured a chair and sat. “Interrogate,” he said, and lit his pipe. 

 

~(*)~

 

“That fight was insane!” Marla said grinning.

 Katlyn smiled at her and shrugged. “They always are.”

Marla smiled and laid her bandaged hand on Katlyn’s “Thanks for saving Jane and John,” she said.

Sandra leaned in and said, “It’s why we come along. You five were up to your arses. You couldn’t have handled those twenty, even with Lead Instructor Finnigan.”

Marla looked out over the pub they were in. Around two tables that had been pushed together the five recruits and the three instructors stood and sat. Pints and shot glasses sat full and empty on the table, and the group talked and laughed as they relived their first real mission. The tradition of decompressing in the Broken Broomstick had begun half a century earlier by a long past Lead Instructor, and Seamus thought it a grand tradition. Marla looked back at Sandra. 

“I hope you’re not disappointed to know that that wasn’t the scariest fight Kat and I have been in,” the blonde girl said and chuckled. “Although at four to one you lot were in pretty seriously deep.”

Jonas leaned in from her other side and looked at Katlyn with his un-bandaged eye. “I can’t thank you enough, Dame Mclellen. He…” Jonas shuddered to a stop.

“Won’t bother anyone again,” Katlyn said smoothly. “And you performed quite well, Mr. Worthington.”

Jane shook her head and asked, “Wonder where he came down?”

Sandra shrugged. “Probably out in the sea, looked like that was the direction Kat threw him. Last time she did that, and we actually went looking, the poor fuck came down thirteen miles away. Frozen like a rock, too. We think she threw him about twenty miles up, he got frozen, came back down.”

Marla looked at the two young women beside her with the same wonder she saw in her classmates. They had leapt into the fray when it became apparent that five newly minted cadets were not going to survive the surprise appearance of twenty armed and capable witches and wizards. It went from a terrifying ambush she knew she was going to die in, to a rout in moments.

As, Marla, the cadets, and Instructor Finnigan approached the side of the old manor house through a culinary herb garden they had tripped a magical alarm. Snaps sounded all around them, and their _Disillusion_ charms failed. They were Easter European, that much she guessed from the yelling, but that was all the analysis she had time for. Instructor Finnigan shoved the whole right flank of suspects backwards with a powerful shield charm, and then he cast the _Finite’._ That cancelled the _Disillusion_ of their attackers, and Marla saw they were surrounded. She grabbed Alice’s arm and assumed the back to back defense position.

“Remember, keep moving. Stay with me,” she yelled as she shot her first round of curses.

 It all happened so fast. Jonas was blown backward by a combination of blasting curses, and he tumbled to a stop at one of the newly revealed suspect’s feet. Jonas already bleeding from a large cut across is forehead and cheek. Jane and John were being forced into a corner by a constant bombardment from five opponents. Only Instructor Finnigan and she and Alice were making headway. Instructor Finnigan had quickly taken two out by the time the apparent leader of their opponents confronted him. Marla and Alice had also taken two down before a group of six combined to rain curses and jinx on their shields. 

 Alice had let a blaster fly; shattering the shield of their attackers, and Marla promptly killed a woman who had been trying very hard to kill them. There was another explosion, she and Alice were flying in opposite directions, and she tumbled to a stop next to a hedge. Then the wizard a few feet away that was standing over Jonas had said _Avada._ She didn’t have time, and she knew her friend Jonas was a dead man. _S_ uddenly his attacker was disarmed and shooting straight up into the air at an incredible speed. Katlyn appeared and stepped over Jonas to cast tangle root on the two that were on the verge of killing John and Jane. At the same time Sandra was at her back casting Bombarda on a man about to attack the lead instructor from behind. The man looked down at the giant hole in his chest, collapsed, and died with a gurgle. 

Sandra, the Arouk Ta Noi, had nearly become one with her greatest friend among the Kind. Glavine loved to be loved, but when she was angry she was an unbridled and unsympathetic force of nature. Sandra had been imbued with the dragon’s personality over the three and a half years they had been bonded, and she carried the dragon’s heart in hers. A man had Alice under the _Cruciatus_ while four others laughed; they hadn’t yet noticed Katlyn and Sandra before the two were among them. The man cruciating Alice exploded, spraying his companions with blood and entrails. As they tried to regroup Sandra took them all. With five lightning fast slashes of _Sectumsempra_ they fell, armless, some legless, one headless, all of them bleeding out.

Katlyn and Sandra had taken half of the remaining surprise attack forces out in less than ten seconds. Beyond them the leader of the organization was facing off with Lead Instructor Finnigan.

“This isn’t working out well for you,” Seamus said as he parried a curse. “You should surrender.”

“You can’t be seri…o…” he stopped as he looked around and noticed that all but six of his forces were down or dead. Jonas had recovered enough to be quite handily dueling two at once. The other cadets had surrounded the four remaining outlaws and were slowly bringing them down. Katlyn and Sandra had backed off, and were standing around twenty feet away waiting on Seamus.

Seamus smiled at the man’s realization and asked again, “well?”

The man dropped his wand. The four that faced the four cadets dropped theirs as Jonas succeeded in blasting the shield of his adversaries apart and stunning them.

Marla set her drink on the table and touched Sandra’s hand, drawing her attention. “Sandy?” she asked. “When you and Kat were fighting I noticed how quiet you were. You didn’t talk. It was like you knew what the other was going to do without saying anything. How did you learn to do that?”

_I really like her, Kat. Test?_

_Yes, I think so. She could be a valuable asset and a good friend to have on our side when the time comes._

Across the table from her, Marla saw Sandra raise an eyebrow at Katlyn, and Katlin smiled and nodded.

Sandra turned to Marla. “Cognitive exercise number three, please.”

Marla looked surprised. “How did you know I was Ravenclaw?”

She was met with silence and knowing grins. _We read all of your files._ Sandra sent, and Katlyn sniggered at her sarcastic tone in the link.

Marla nodded. “Alright, ‘cognitive exercise number three; to solve a mystery. First order, define the question’,” she said, reciting the Ravenclaw study manual. “How do you do what you do?” she thought for a moment and then her face lit. “No, that’s all of it, is it?” She looked at the two young women across from her. “The first and most important question is… why?”

The blonde girl nodded once.

“Yes,” Marla said in a note of profound realization. “ _Why_ ? Why do you come on these missions?” again she was met with silence. She chuckled, and said, “That’s right, yes or no.”

“Aye,” Katlyn said.

“Your parents were not happy about this, were they?” Marla asked. The immediate snort and laugh from Sandra answered her question. “Kind of an understatement?”

“Very much so,” Sandra said laughing.

“Yeah,” Marla said. “But you do it anyway, so they lost… to Lavender!”

“Yes, Marla,” Sandra said. “The Ka Arouk was really quiet firm about this.”

 Next to Sandra Katlyn shook in a silent laugh. “Aye. Though, the one who really convinced them was instructor Finnigan here.” She smiled at Seamus as he chatted with the other cadets and puffed his pipe. “‘Twas quite the speech, it was.”

Marla talked out loud to herself. “If Lavender was so adamant that you do this it means she wants you schooled in fighting. She wants you to be ready for a _big_ fight.” She looked at the dragon girls. “Jason _and_ Elise come on missions too, don’t they?”

Katlyn nodded. “Aye.” She took a sip of her butterbeer. “Jason comes along about half as much as Sandy. As Instructor Finnigan said, You’re very lucky it was my turn for the spanking.”

Marla looked puzzled.

Seamus, who had been observing the conversation, spoke up. “I told you, hasn’t been one group o’ trainees that didn’t show contempt to the kids.” He chuckled. “I don’t put up with that disrespectful bullshit, so our little tradition o’ spankin’ you all started the first mission Sandy and Kat came along on. Ethan Marcus volunteered to be the test case.”

“Ethan?” Alice said, as she too revealed she was listening. “That was why he smiled like the fucking Cheshire Cat when I told him we had an early call yesterday. Arsehole.”

Seamus laughed. “He made a very rude comment about Sandy’s age and sexual development. She drew, he drew, he lost… badly.”

Katlyn laughed. “Then his classmates drew. I had intended to help, but Sandy had them all stunned before I had a chance to pick one.”

“Jason comes along when we’re fairly sure there will be trouble,” Seamus told the Marla and Alice. “Elise works with the Sûreté d’ Magie when she’s in France, and shedoes missions with us in the summer when she stays with Kat at the reserve.” He smirked at Katlyn and Sandra. “Had one o’ them been on hand today you’d be nursing more than your pride. They don’t take kindly to people disrespecting them, especially if it’s directed at Kat. El’s the worst of the lot about that.” He chuckled and winked at Katlyn. “Must be a Parisian thing.”

Katlyn hid her blush behind her hair and a sip of her drink. “Sandy, Jase, and El may have been random slips in a hat when I picked them out,” she said. “But they are the as much a part of our family now as any; more so in some ways.”

“It’s all of you, then,” Marla said in an awed whispered voice. “The Ni Arouk, the Arouk Ta Noi, Elise, the Arouk Ta Nie, and Jason, the Arouk Ta Kao, are all trained and lethal. The four of you… wow.” She contemplated for a moment, and then she smiled broadly. “It’s to protect the Kind, isn’t it?” She rolled her eyes at herself. “Oh course it’s to protect the Kind, Marla, you numpty.” She looked at Katlyn and Sandra. “Lavender knew you would need these skills, and she knew you would need them ingrained in you, part of you from the start.”

Katlyn looked at her with a very serious expression. “Yes, Marla. The life of an Arouk is usually one of conflict, and often not long. None of our predecessors died of age.”

“So she wants you to be a warriors, like her,” Marla said slowly, nodding to herself. “I can understand that.”

“Not warriors,” Sandra said. “Paladins.”

Marla grinned. “Well Katlyn and Lavender are knights already.”

“There’s more to being a knight than having people call you ‘Dame’,” Katlyn told her with a knowing expression. “There’s a code of conduct, and a code of duty. We are at Her Majesties’ call, and she and Mr. Brown are aware that they _can_ call on us. I expect it will happen again sometime in my life.”

The rest of the cadets save Alice had drifted back it their own conversations, so Marla sat for a moment and contemplated while Alice asked, “Does this happen often, jumping into the fight?”

“It’s averaging about every other time,” Sandra said. “Like Kat said, this wasn’t the worst scrape a class has been in.”

“That would be last summer, it would,” Seamus said. “Everyone got a notch for that.” He smiled without humor. “Which reminds me.” He held out his hand. “Give me your wand, Estey.”

She looked at him, bemused and he waggled his fingers. Marla carefully drew her wand and handed it to Seamus, who drew his. With a quick swipe across the pommel he cut a small quarter inch long nick on one side of the butt end of her wand, and then he handed it back. “Not a lot of cadets get a notch the first go,” he said. “You shouldn’t see it as something to be proud of, you took a life, but it should be respected.” He looked at Katlyn and she handed him her wand. “Was two, right?”

She nodded.

After two more notches joined the near full circle around the pommel of her wand, Seamus handed it back. “Sandy,” he said as he turned to her.

“Five,” she said flatly.

A chill went down Marla’s spine. These two girls weren’t. She glimpsed the pommel of Sandra’s wand as Seamus cut five small nicks in the second circular row around the end of her wand. There had to be at least thirty of the little notches now. It occurred to her that during their conversations she had felt like the young one. Katlyn and Sandra spoke with an air of maturity, and the two teenagers behaved as if they were quite a lot older than they actually were.

“You had to grow up so fast,” she said to no one in particular and with a hint of sorrow.

Katlyn looked at her with a flat expression on her face. “I was four.”

“That evil motherfucker took her childhood,” Sandra fumed. “Her parents did what they could, filled her life with books and knowledge, but until Jason, Elise, and I came along she had no friends her age.”

Marla nodded. “I meant all of you, actually.”

“Yeah, you two are amazing,” Alice said in agreement as she rose from her chair. “Thank you Dame Mclellen, Miss Wormwood, I’ll remember what I learned this morning, you can be certain. Right now I need the loo though.” As she walked away Marla turned back to Katlyn and Sandra.

Katlyn smiled. “Well, you’ve almost got there, Marla. You’ve figured out why we go on missions, now you just need to suss out our fighting style.”

“Okay,” Marla said. “Is it just that you know each other so well that you can tell what the other is going to do?” She shook her head. “No, you did things that the other would have to know you were going to do. It’s like you were telling each other what you were doing the whole time… without… speaking.” she stopped dead with a surprised look on her face. Katlyn and Sandra smiled broadly.

_She’s got it!_ Sandra sent.

Katlyn snickered. _I think so. Let’s look._ Katlyn took Sandra’s hand and they combined their power.

_They’re talking all the time. That’s what those pointed looks are… and all the silence,_ Marla thought to herself, and then she looked into their smiling faces, amazed _. You’re doing it right now!_

_Correct, Marla_ , Sandra’s voice said in Marla’s head.

Marla’s eyes went wide.

_Sandy and I link practically all the time, Marla._  Katlyn said in her mind. _We’ve done it so much that when we’re together it’s just sort of natural for us._  She snickered. _And when we are together, especially if we are touching, our power is multiplied, and Sandy and I can link to anyone. We like to keep that to ourselves and a few good friends, so don’t let on, Okay?”_

_Okay,_ Marla thought.

Seamus watched the three women as they silently looked at each other. _A good choice, Kat,_ he thought to himself _._ One huge reason that the girls came along, that they hadn’t told Marla about, was to skim the cream from the top of the Auror Academy. Lavender had bemoaned that they might need a real fighting force if the arseholes didn’t come to their senses, and Katlyn had suggested that they gather allies on their training missions. So far they had seven trusted agents inside the Auror corps. He caught Sandra’s eye and nodded once.

_When we first brought Sandy, El and Jase to the reserve, I had to do the link with the Kind for them. After about a year El started doing the link with Malcom by herself._ Katlyn shared with Marla, and Sandra sniggered.

_Lavender was fucking amazed._ Sandra sent. _But we weren’t._ Sandra turned to her very best friend. _Kat taught us. When we would sit with the chicks and Horatius, sharing the memories, we learned what it felt like to do the link. How the magic felt here -_ she touched her chest- _you know?_

Marla nodded. _Yeah._

_The reason we seem so much older to a lot of people, is because in the link time is meaningless,_ Katlyn told her. _The Kind remember everything with perfect clarity, and when an Arouk shares her memory with them, they remember that too. Miriam, Foon Sia Ma, Ageth, we have shared in large parts of the lives of all the Arouk, and we have lived nearly the entirety of Aliana’s life through Horatius’ sharing of her memories with us._

Marla looked at them wide eyed.

_After we discovered that sharing the memories of the Kind with the chicks speeds their development, we started bringing the chicks into the sessions,_ Sandra sent. _We link with them and Gavina, usually, and Gavina bonds her memories into the chick’s minds. They lean so fast that way. They are still their own beings, but her life, her experience, her knowledge, is in their memories. Our greatest gift, our greatest pleasure, is in the link with the Kind._

_And so we learned to do the link with our primaries. Kat and Lavender are still the only ones that can go to any member of the Kind and do it at will, but El was so determined._ Sandra laughed and looked at Katlyn. _When she knows what she wants…_

_Oh, give it a rest or I’ll start in on you and Jase. You two are sickening some times._

Marla’s eyes lit. _Romance among the Arouks?_

_Jase and Sandy have been together since the end of second year really._ Katlyn sent.

“What’s this about you and Elise?” Marla asked coyly.

Katlyn couldn’t hide the smile, or the blush.

_Jase and I could feel it even before they realized it._  Sandra chuckled. _I think it’s because we already recognized the flavor of love in the link. We knew for months, we were just waiting for Kat and El to figure it out._ Sandra laughed. “Oh, Marla you should have seen it!”

“Shut up, Sandy,” Katlyn said with no heat in it.

Sandra laughed again. “It was only six months ago, at Christmas. We had just got back from a session with Asgre and the chicks, and the link was still really strong.” She looked at her best friend. “We stepped out of the port box in the common field, and Kat looked over at Elise. She usually guards her emotions quite well, but she forgot herself, and we all felt what Kat felt.”

“And that was?” Marla asked.

Katlyn laid her hand on Marla’s. _El is just so…_ a wave of emotion went through Marla and she gasped. Admiration, desire, pure unblemished love, pride, and a lot more than a dash of unencumbered teenaged lust, all swirled in her and she felt weak and dizzy. Katlyn pulled back her hand.

_Yeah, so that’s not suitable to say out loud._ Sandra sent. _Kat has, as you felt, powerful desires._

_Oh, is that so,_ Katlyn sent back. _Well let’s just consider what you and Jase think about ALL THE DAMN TIME!_ She shuddered. _On second thought, let’s not._

Marla guffawed, earning puzzled looks from her teammates. _So what happened?_

Sandra smiled at the Ni Arouk. _Elise looked back at Kat, ran three steps, tackled her, and snogged her senseless in the middle of the common field. It was awesome._

“Aren’t you a little young for those kinds of thoughts?” Marla asked.

_This was something we talked about just among ourselves,_ Katlyn sent. _Since, subjectively, we have lived close to three hundred years in the link…_

Marla looked stunned.

_Aye, that’s why we seem so much older. We are. Anyway, we decided that -_ and she looked pointedly at Sandra- _we’d wait until we are of age before any… grown up activities take place. I’m happy to, because what El and I have seen in Jase and Sandy’s minds has been quite enough already._

Sandra nudged her redheaded friend with her elbow. _You and El have had your fair share of ‘wandering hands’. Don’t pretend to be all pure and shit, you’re not._

Marla shook with a repressed laughter. The depth of the two girl’s friendship was so profound she could feel it through the link they were sharing. “You’re very lucky to have each other,” she told them. “My best friend was killed in the war along with her family. Her mum was a muggle and..”

Sandra nodded and hugged Katlyn to her side. “Ah, Red here’ll never be rid of me.”

Marla watched the two girls hug and felt an enormous flood of affection for them. _We’re glad you feel that way, Marla,_ Katlyn said in her head. _We have a proposition for you. You can decline of course, but we think you could help us._

 Marla looked into their eyes, trying to convey just how serious she was. _Whatever you want, whatever you need,_ she thought. _Just ask._

The two girls smiled back at her. _We are going to rescue the Kind._


	20. The Mission

**_A/N And so we come to the end of this little tale. It’s been a long and rambling road, and I’d like to thank you all for sticking with me as Seamus, Pansy, Katie, Luna, Lavender, Katlyn, and the Kind told me their story._ **

 

All’s Fair

The Mission

(June 2 2012)

 

_How dare they,_ General Demetrius Olgar thought for the hundredth time in the last three days. _Demanding bitches, “Release the Kind to us or suffer the consequences. This is the last time we will ask,”_ he heard them say in his memory. He shook his head and spat. _Just because you can talk to the beasts doesn’t make you special. Or them! They are animals, meat and parts, not beings. Silly, arrogant British…_ He never completed that thought. The enormous concussion that threw him to the ground drove any other ideas but running for his life from his head.

 

~(*)~

 

Seamus grinned. Beneath him Atlas powered them skyward, and he patted the horntail’s side beneath his breast plate. To his left Lavender soared astride Asgre, her small passenger tucked in behind her. She and the great green dragon, wrapped in their mirror bright battle armor, glowed in the red light of sunset. On his right Horatius glinted in his, with Katlyn astride him, her red hair flowing out from under her helmet. Malcolm with Elise, Morton with Jason, and Glavine with Sandra fell into the slipstream of the three lead dragons. Behind Seamus and the five Arouk, ten others of the Kind spiraled into the sky above the Atlantic.

The goblin made armor was light and very tough. Horatius had suggested it as a way for them to make up for his years of captivity. Seamus snickered in reflection. When Hermione had presented the compromise the goblins had thought they were getting a sweetheart deal. Armor for a few dragons and humans was not a huge price to pay for the knowledge that Horatius and the Kind would not come to them for retribution. A few turned out to be sixteen complete suits for dragon and rider, and the goblins had grumbled, but Supreme Admiral  Hkokblok had overruled them all. He had been the one to suggest a presentation ceremony, and he had been the first to place a plate on Horatius, seal it with powerful protection magic, and beg his forgiveness.

Seamus glanced to his rear at the three jet black shapes that seemed to soak up the fading light. The Arouk Ta and their dragon friends were covered in plates of frozen night. Seamus smirked and shook his head at Elise. All the other riders sat with their legs astride the shoulders of the dragon. Elise stood. A simple rope harness clipped to Malcom’s armor at the breast plate and near the base of his tail provided all security the Arouk Ta Nei needed to dance across his back. She shouted a warrior’s battle cry as they all felt Katlyn begin the Apparition.

 

~(*)~

 

Sixteen of the Kind and their linked riders, all dressed for battle, appeared in the darkening sky over Romania. The shockwave from their mass Apparition annihilated windows and reduced most of the compound below them to a few listing buildings and shattered ruins. As the stunned dragon slavers picked themselves from the wreckage, death swooped down upon them.

Horatius was filled with righteous anger, and Katlyn glowed with him. The treetops ran under them as they approached the broken ramparts of the Romanian keeper’s stockade. In his glittering metal suit Horatius was easily seen, and the dragon slavers tried to mount a defense. Dragon repelling charms and hexes were directed at him, but Katlyn had anticipated them. The shield shimmered as the incoming spells spent their energy against it.

“Doom has come for you!” she shouted, her voice thundering in the _Sonorus_ charm, and then The Lord of the Kind spat.

A column of blue white fire, five feet around and fifty feet, long bored through the center of the wrecked remains of the stockade. Timbers and shrapnel flew from the trench created by the dragon’s fire, and the survivors fled in all directions. Katlyn pulled Horatius up and they pitched into a tight turn to prepare for another run on the compound.

In the link Lavender felt her former apprentice and now partner directing the diversionary attack on the compound. She, Seamus, and the Arouk Ta were heading straight to the caverns and cages that the prisoners were kept in. _You will be free,_ she sent to the captives.

_AROUK!!!_ They called in response.

 

~(*)~

 

Nona Jacklick pulled Dante over, banking him hard to the right, and watched the curse sail past his left wing. Completing the tight two hundred forty degree turn they came back around to face the small group of slavers on the hill top next to the compound. Her shield shimmered as curse after curse hammered against it. A grim smile formed on her face. They had no chance, her training at the hands of the Arouk and the Aurors giving her a proud confidence. Dante decided to save his fire and trust her shields. As they dove in low over the hill top, He snatched all three slavers from the ground and carried them into the sky. Nona cast _Expelliarmus_ on them and caught their wands as they sailed around Dante’s body to her hand.

“Will you surrender or die?” she shouted.

From the blubbering reply she guessed surrender. _To the lake, my friend,_ she sent to the dragon.

On her right, Marla Estey, mounted upon Cerys, flew up alongside her. Two people, looking terrified, held in the dragons claws. “Nice night for it!” she yelled, a smile in her voice.

 

~(*)~

 

Marla Estey wasn’t a fashion conscious woman, but she had to admit the blood red armor was fetching. She was a fit and curvy woman, and the armor made her feel quite sexy. Plus, riding a dragon was as stimulating as it got. As Horatius incinerated the crumbled remains of the common house on his second pass, she and Cerys snatched two fleeing men from the ground. Cerys shook them in her claws when they tried to aim their wands. Marla disarmed them, and while she stowed their wands in a satchel near her knee she directed Cerys toward another of the Kind speeding toward the lake.

She recognized the young woman from her dark green armor. Nona had painted the Gryffindor Lion across her back plate, and motifs from her island home on the sides of Dante’s armor; the bright red south sea patterns clashing with the dark green in an almost painful way. Marla though it was very cool.

A shouted greeting and they dove for the lake. Treetops sped by beneath them as they approached a small lake a few miles from the slavers complex, and another pair of dragons with riders appeared near them. They dropped their prisoners into the middle of the lake from fifty feet up and sped back to the fight. 

 

~(*)~

 

Pansy was grinning from ear to ear. She was astride Brighid and in battle once more. Life got no better than this. When she had pieced together what Lavender and Katlyn had planned during a dinner conversation with the Arouk and the Arouk Ta she had demanded to accompany them. They had been hesitant, but Pansy would not be denied.

And so she cackled, her magically amplified voice striking terror into the two men on brooms she and Brighid were chasing down. “Faster you stupid fucks!” she yelled, and then she roared along with Brighid as the two men looked back wide eyed in fear. They coaxed as much speed as they could out of their brooms, but Brighid was faster still. As the sky faded indigo and darkness fell over the Romanian hills, Pansy pulled Brighid up. Her armor painted to exactly mimic her scales, and Pansy’s matching hers seamlessly.

From five hundred feet above them Pansy watched as the two men looked to their rear again and sagged in relief. Lavender had been right; they tended to think in two dimensions. _Now, my dear_ , she sent, and she felt Brighid’s pleasure and anticipation. The great green-black dragon dove, plunging through the sky. She ripped them from their brooms as she passed, and Pansy divested them of their wands. _To the lake, my love._

 

~(*)~

The three Arouk Ta, dressed in their light absorbing armor, were invisible atop their equally invisible friends. Sandra and Glavine were just to Lavenders right, she could feel them, but that was all. Elise and Malcom on her left were only slightly more visible as a shadowy shape moving against the stars behind them.

_El on left flank, Sandy right, Jase right behind me, and  Seamus on clean up. They’ll be targeting me so pick them fast._ She sent a warm confidence in the link. _Just like we practiced everyone. Here we go._

Asgre appeared over the tree tops, and the defenders of the holding pen complex fired on her. The reason her armor glowed brightly in the dim starlight became obvious immediately. Any incoming spell that happened to find a way around her shield was deflected by the shining silvered plates. Green, red, and blue shafts of light pounded Lavenders shield and she grunted under the strain. Now and again she heard a musical bell like sound as a spell ricocheted of one of the plates of Asgre’s armor.

_Any time now,_ she sent in the link. She needn’t have worried.

At almost the same time as she finished the thought Elise and Malcom cut across the hillside the pens and caves were located on and in. As the dragon incinerated the largest structure visible Elise strafed the interior of the complex with eight successive _Reductos_. She had barely cleared the flying debris when Glavine reduced the main gates to cinders. Sandra directed the severing charm at the large iron double doors that led to the caverns in the hillside, but her spell only caused the massive sheets of metal covering the doors to glow red for a moment.

Then Morton and Jason took their run. Jason showered the defenders with a steady stream of curses while Morton flew low enough to grasp the top of one of the pens holding yearlings and pull mightily. Elise was drawing their attention again with another strafing run as Jason hung off the side of his mount to direct the severing charm in a large circle around the top of the pen. The entire top of the cage came away with them. Morton flew fifty feet away, and then he dropped it on small shack next to the outer wall.

Four yearling Romanian ridgebacks crawled from the opening and suddenly there was pandemonium in the compound.

_Run,_ Lavender sent. _We will avenge you, worry not. Run now! Run to the woods._

The Arouk Ta were smoke in the wind. The only thing the defenders could see was an occasional fleeting black shape, but by that time it was far too late. Relentlessly they pounded the compound and the great doors to the caverns, and the responding fire dwindled and eventually stopped as every time a defender let a spell fly it drew an angry dragon’s attention. Then Asgre was landing in the midst of the wreckage, and she ran to the doors.

The cacophony in her head was dizzying. Lavender knew from her previous visits to the Romanian Slaving Facility, as the Dragon Friends had come to call it, that the breeding adults were kept in the caverns behind the doors. She and Katlyn had sensed the despair of a few behind those doors, but the elation that she sensed now was fueled by a dozen at least. Beneath her Asgre growled. She could feel them too through the Ka Arouk’s link. “Let’s go,” Lavender said to her passenger as she dismounted, and Galnumuck, chief locksmith of Gringotts, hopped to the ground beside her. Asgre folded her wings and hovered over Lavender and Galnumuck, presenting her armored back to the few remaining slavers. 

“Now’s your time to shine,” Lavender told the goblin.

He looked at the doors and chuckled. “Such crude work,” he said, and closed his eyes. Galnumuck had studied for many years, and practiced the art of lock making for decades. There was no one better. Drawing his hand down the front of the door he said, “a few protective enchantments, a mediocre lock set, simple construction.” He shook his head. “Give me but a few moments, Dame Finnigan.”

There was a roar and crunching sound as Atlas alit a few yards away. The chameleon charm on Atlas’ armor shifted in the gloom and morphed to mimic the rocks around the opening in the hill side. Seamus cast a few protective charms and hurried to his wife’s side. “We good?” he asked.

“Another moment and, YES!” Galnumuck cried. Sever loud clanks could be heard behind the doors and the large bolt on the face of the doors slid to the left side. Seamus performed the _Alohomora_ but the doors stood firm.

“Interesting,” the goblin said. Feeling the doors from side to side he turned and smiled. “There is a large bar on the inside. I cannot move it, but I believe the securing enchantments are defeated. Brute force should suffice.”

_Asgre, Atlas, if you don’t mind,_ she sent to them along with an image of the doors being forced open.

The two humans and the goblin stepped away from the doors, and then the two dragons reared and grasped the doors by the gussets that held the plates of iron to them. With a mighty shove they bent the doors inward, and then they pulled them from their hinges. Unfortunately for the three guards that had decided to defend the entrance, Asgre spit into the opening to clear any resistance as the doors came open. The slaver’s dragon fire shield charms worked, but using them prevented the three men from protecting themselves, and they were obliterated by the door that Atlas threw down the passage.

With roars of triumph the Arouk Ta and their mounts landed in the rubble that was the prison yard. A moment later the Ni Arouk, mounted upon the Lord of the Kind, settled to the ground. Horatius hurried to Asgre’s side and nuzzled her. Then the great dragon spoke.

_“KO MAK TA! AROUK MA TO!”_ He thundered into the cave.

Roars of joy sounded from inside the cavern. Lavender levitated the goblin to Seamus’ back, and they ran into the opening. As their eyes adjusted they could see rows of doors, similar to the ones that they had just come through, lining the walls of the main shaft. Seamus stepped up to the first one on the left and tried the handle. From Seamus’ shoulder the goblin reached out and ran his hand over the door.

“Let me down,” Galnumuck said. Seamus set him on the floor of the cavern and watched as he ran his hands over the door. “Similar, similar,” the goblin said to himself. “Ah, here!” he turned his wrist in a clockwise motion and several loud clanks came from opposite side of the door. It swung open with the lightest touch from Seamus. The chamber was a fetid cell. Heaps of old dung sat in one corner, and a malnourished Short Snout curled in fear in the far back of the chamber. Lavender ran to it.

_I am Arouk,_ she sent, and felt her calm. _We came as fast as we could, I’m so sorry._ She hugged the dragon’s neck and shed a few tears. _Can you walk?_

She felt the dragon weakly say, _yes, thank you, Arouk. I am Anna_.

  _Pansy, I need you!_ Lavender sent. _I’m getting help for you, Anna. The Dragon Friends have come for you all,_ she told the dragon.

Outside the cave the rest of the Welsh forces were gathering. Nona and Dante landed opposite Atlas, Charlie and Portia came down next to them. Cerys and Marla in their blood red armor flew in tight circles above the gathering dragons. From out of the dark Brighid and Pansy appeared and landed directly in front of the cavern opening. Pansy dismounted and hurried into the cave. She smiled at Seamus as she passed him and Galnumuck, then she scurried into the first cell. 

“Over here,” she heard Lavender say, and she walked toward her friend. That was when she realized that the thing she thought was a pile of dead skin was in fact a live dragon.

“You rat fuck pieces of fucking shit!” she growled. “Oh, honey,” she said as tears brimmed in her eyes and she caressed the dragon’s cheek.

“Her name is Anna. Get Brighid and help her out of here, we’re going to the next cell,” Lavender told Pansy.

Pansy turned to her friend. “I’m inclined to leave them in the fucking lake,” she said through clenched teeth.

Lavender nodded. “As am I, but _we_ are better than that.”

As they turned Pansy snorted, “Maybe you are.”

Lavender snickered as they left the chamber.

While Galnumuck opened the next cell Brighid and Pansy helped the Anna out of hers and into the open air of night. The short snout was greeted by Horatius with a nuzzle and purr. Suddenly a loud thunk came from a hilltop a few hundred yards away, and a whistling sound rent the air. The Ni Arouk and the Arouk Ta sprang into action. A huge curved wall of force materialized between the Welsh forces and the hill the sound had come from. An instant later a forty foot long one foot in diameter arrow impacted the shield. The shield collapsed and the arrow sailed into their midst. It had been slowed enough by the resistance of the shield that Atlas was able to swat it to the ground just before it would have killed Anna.

Horatius looked at the hill top and then back to Sandra, Jason, and Elise.” _AROUK TA, TON MA KI,”_ he said, and glared at the hill. “ _AROUK TA, ARK!”_

The Arouk Ta were on their mounts a moment later and shadows in the sky an instant after that.

 

~(*)~

 

Inside the cavern the next door had opened to reveal an older male Longhorn. He was in far better health than Anna. After telling Lavender _I AM KASSAGAN, THANK YOU, AROUK,_ he pranced down the short passage to the entrance. _Have Charlie and Ellen do the health check as they come out,_ Lavender sent to Katlyn.

_Already on it,_ Katlyn replied.

As Lavender approached the third door she felt a familiar presence. It was definitely a Green on the other side, but even that did not explain the comfortable, composed, and peaceful presence she felt. _We are here, my friend,_ she sent, and nodded at Galnumuck. With a twist of the wrist the door opened.

He was magnificent, even with the numerous wounds and in in the foulness of the cell. _I AM KADDYL,_ he sent and bowed. 

Tears ran down Lavender’s face as she smiled. _Oh... Oh Lord Kaddyl, she though you dead. She_ _has shown me so much of you, so much, and she has never loved another._ _Asgre is here with us, my lord, and I am her Arouk._ His head snapped up, and with a loud trumpet he ran from the cell. _KADDYL!_  She sent to Katlyn.

_Are you serious?_ Katlyn replied, her tone stunned.

“Back up everybody,” Katlyn shouted, and Kaddyl rushed from the cave. He was able to trumpet just once for a half second before Asgre tackled him. They rolled back and forth on the ground, winding their necks together and licking each other’s face. It was an obvious scene of pure elation. After a moment their daughter, Brighid, joined them. Asgre and Brighid wept tears of joy and sorrow on the cuts and sores Kaddyl showed them. The three dragons moved away from the cave and curled together, quietly conversing in the language of the Kind. All the while fire and the shimmer of spells could be seen from the hill top the arrow had come from. 

~(*)~

 

General Demetrius Olgar had commanded the dragon stockyard for twenty years; he was an over confident and woefully unprepared man. The Welsh attack had shaken him, but he had marshalled a few of his remaining forces and ran to the ballista, a massive crossbow mounted on the tallest hill near the breeding pits. The Romanians, long ago, had erected the enormous siege engine. It required five men to operate, and it was capable of delivering an arrow weighing hundreds of pounds more than a mile away. They had let one fly, and he was admonishing his men to quickly load another when a black figure landed among them. The crossbow exploded in fragments and flames as Malcolm spent his rage on the machine. At the same time the black armored figure drew her wand.

 It was a woman, that much Olgar could determine, but she was hard to look at. His mind was trying to make sense out of what his eyes were showing him. The light from the burning crossbow simply disappeared into her armor. No edge reflections showed were plates joined, there was no shading of grey and black, she was simply a woman shaped hole in the universe. Two other similarly outfitted dragons with riders were ghostly silhouettes that landed next to Malcom in the darkness outside the ring of firelight.

A steam of extremely fast, very loud, and violently profane French came from under the face shield of Elise’s helmet as she parried their curses, and then she was silent 

If asked, “who is the one among you I would least like to fight?” the Arouk and the Arouk Ta would all say Elise. The Arouk Ta Nie was skilled, ruthless, and unbelievably fast; the Sûreté d’ Magie wanted her badly. With a barely perceptible wave of her wand she sent two of the burning timbers from the crossbow flying across the clearing where they impaled two of Olgar’s men. Her next round of spells slammed the remaining three of the slavers to the rocky ground, and tossed Olgar across the clearing at the top of the hill. He fetched up against a tree with a few broken ribs. As he struggled to breathe and rise his wand sailed out of his grip. Elise stalked toward Olgar and the three on the ground.

One had tried to raise a shield, but Elise’s fury was all consuming. She cast a Reducto so powerful that, not only did his faint shield collapse, but he himself was squashed flat. She casually took the heads off the other two before approaching Olgar.

He tried to talk, but every time he made a sound she cursed him, not with anything lethal, but with the most painful jinxes and curses he could think of. He heard “merde and morte “and a few other French bits of profanity as she hammered him relentlessly. Two figures walked through the flames and stood next to the shorter woman. They stared at him in silence, and then they all turned and walked back through the flames. Olgar managed to crawl about ten feet before he saw the yearling ridgebacks emerging from the tree line and coming toward him. 

~(*)~

 

A woman strode from the gloom of the trees and walked toward the Welsh forces surrounding the entrance to the holding cells. Wands were trained on her immediately, but she ignored them. Her hair was black shot with grey, and she had an air of nobility around her. Her robes were not elegant or elaborate, but they were finely made and attractive. The walking stick she had in her hand almost disguised the limp when she approached Katlyn and smiled. “At last,” she said in a heavy accent. “At last you have come to free them.”

Katlyn smiled at her. She could feel it from ten feet away. “How long has it been?” she asked.

“Thirty one years, I heard them the day after.”

Katlyn nodded. _And did you know then what you were?_ she sent.

The woman shook her head. “No, not until I read of you and Lavender. Then I knew, but these people…they would not hear me, they would not listen, they would not try, they…” she shook her head.

“Aye,” Katlyn said, her face twisted in disgust. She shook it off. “Well, Arouk, let’s just introduce you to the Kind, shall we?”

A third Arouk, it was unprecedented to have two at the same time in history, and the Arouk Ta were unique, but a third full Arouk was a gift from the heavens. Horatius, Asgre, Kaddyl, Kassagan the alpha male longhorn resident of the caves, and his mate Elna, conferred. It was decided that Elna would heal Oksana and bond with her. They forwent the celebratory flight to focus on releasing and healing the remaining prisoners in the caves. There were fifteen in all. In addition to Elna there were three other longhorn females. Two Welsh females were found in terrible filth, the ridgeback pair were in moderate health. The Romanians had somehow also acquired a fireball pair and a vipertooth pair. Sven, the short snout male they found, was nearly dead.

Oksana’s first act as Arouk was to gather the Kind of the Romanian Enclave to her and heal Sven. All fifteen of the mature Dragons of the Enclave, and ten of the Dragons of Wales, gathered around Sven, who had to be levitated from the tunnels. A shower of tears fell on him and he groaned weakly as a silver glow formed and strengthened around him. A deep base thrumming came from the gathered Kind and they showered him again. The glow became almost blinding, and Sven roared.

The dragons backed away, and Sven rose haltingly to his feet. He was still a little shaken but after a short few minutes he was strong enough to accompany Oksana and Anna to a clearing in the woods where he could rest and sleep under the stars for the first time in more than four centuries. The two dragons curled together and went to sleep immediately. 

~(*)~

 

Daniel was on the verge of drowning when the dragons appeared in the sky over the lake. One by one the former dragon slavers were levitated to the backs of the Doom. Of the almost one hundred residents of the slaving facility, forty seven had survived. They were suitably humbled. The former slavers were ferried back to the mouth of the prison cave, and it was there that Seamus addressed them.

“Your life has been spared for one reason, and only one reason, you are being allowed to redeem yourselves by caring for those of the Kind that you have abused.” Seamus said to the prisoners. He stood on a large rock outside the cavern raising his arm to indicate the woman next to him. “This is Oksana, she is your Arouk. In case you don’t know what that means, this is what it means. The Kind love her, unconditionally, and she loves them. They can sense her, speak with her, and they will know immediately if any harm comes to her.  Fuck with her in any way and the Kind will erase you!” Seamus was not a tall man, he was not cut from the cloth of Adonis or Hercules, he was an average Irishman, but still the prisoners trembled at his speech. “You will do exactly what Oksana tells you to do, you will treat the Kind with deference and humility, and you will never again enforce your artificial breeding. The Kind will breed when they determine another is needed, not you.”

Seamus drew his wand. “Form a circle and join hands,” he told them. He muttered the old incantation and a golden chain of light formed around the interlocked hands and arms of the prisoners. “Do you promise to never again intentionally harm the Kind in any way?” he asked, and then, “Say yes!” he growled.

“Yes,” they repeated.

“Do you promise to obey any order that Oksana may give?”

“Yes.”

“Do you promise never to attempt to harm an Arouk or any member of the Dragon Friends?”

“Yes.”

He banished the spell, nodded, and smiled grimly. “That was an unbreakable vow, in case you were wondering.”

He motioned for the Arouk to join him, and they clambered up the few steps carved in the stone. “These are the Arouk,” He called. “The Ni Arouk, The Ka Arouk, and the Ma Arouk, the maiden, the mother, and the crone. You all know what that means, and how significant that is.” He indicated the figures in black. “And these are their right arm, the Arouk Ta; you never want to see them dressed like this again.”

Oksana stood alone upon the rock after Seamus and the rest stepped down. She spoke to them in Romanian. Seamus listened, and he smiled and nodded in appreciation. He didn’t understand Romanian, but he understood tone. She was manipulating them with all the skill of a mother, which Seamus decided she must have once been. First she admonished them and scolded them for their actions, and them she comforted them and offed them redemption. He could hear it in her voice and see it on their faces. He smirked and decided to tell his mother how well she did at this little skill.

Some were still very angry at lost friends and loved ones, but Oksana reminded them of their vow and their crime. They all, some grudgingly, relented. With the Arouk of the Romanian Enclave at their head the former slavers returned to the wreckage of their compound to rebuild and learn a new way of living. Almost immediately they found that having the Kind on their side made life much easier. With Kassagan and Elna holding the each end of a tree they had uprooted, the new friends laid smaller logs against it as rafters so that it formed the ridge of a new common hall. It was nearing midnight when the Welsh bade goodbye to the Ma Arouk and her charges. Lavender, Katlyn, Jason, Sandra, and Elise all hugged her and promised to return soon to visit and help with rebuilding and training her new help.

While Kaddyl said goodbye to his former prison mates and prepared to return to Wales with Asgre, Seamus put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, and they watched the Arouk say farewell. “Are we going to have a problem?” he asked.

Daniel shook his head. “No,” he said, and then turned to Seamus. “We… Olgar didn’t tell us. We didn’t know. Our business has been failing for years. Your Arouk have convinced many not to buy from us, that we knew, but we did not know why.”

“I’m sorry that knowledge cost you,” Seamus told him. “Morn them and move on, that’s the best advice I can give. I’ve stood in your shoes. If you let it, it will eat you. Move on.”

Daniel nodded and held out his hand for Seamus to shake. Seamus took it and fixed him with a serious smile. “Welcome to the light,” he said, took Daniel’s hand, and shook. 

~(*)~

 

 

“Oh fuck,” Lavender said, annoyed.

“What?” Seamus asked from the opposite side of the table in the great hall. They were sharing a snack and a bottle of wine after their return from Romania.

“I thought they’d wait until tomorrow,” Lavender said in a peeved voice.

Seamus chuckled. “Ah, I see. Kat and El at it are they, eh?”

“Yeah,” Lavender replied. An image of an ebony, fine fingered hand against a wet alabaster breast floated through her mind. “God damn her, she knows this is what happens.”

_Aye, I do. You should go to you cabin. It’s all four of us tonight._

“Bitch,” Lavender muttered and smiled. “Come on, Shay.” _I hope you’re ready for tomorrow morning’s piss taking, oh apprentice mine._ A wave of love and humor passed through Lavender and she smiled. _Yes, I love all of you too._

 

~(*)~

Katlyn, Elise, Sandra, and Jason writhed on Katlyn and Elise’s magically enlarged bed. They partook of each other liberally, each lost in the swirl of love, joy, and lust that swelled in a bubble of magic around them. The more they lost themselves in it, the larger it got. As Katlyn came for the first time that night, the bubble swelled to encompass the whole of the keeper’s compound.

The first time it happened, breakfast the next morning had been an uncomfortable affair. Lavender and Seamus were fully aware of what had happened, but they had thought the effect was limited to them, as it usually was with just Katlyn and Elise involved. The snickers and sidelong looks that greeted them as they walked to the table laden with the Dragon Friends breakfast cured them of that notion. Lavender and Katlyn, as Arouk, were linked to each other, and when they were in close proximity they affected each other. Lavender had thought that the overpowering sexual energy that had washed through her went unnoticed by the other keepers. She was wrong.

On Katlyn’s eighteenth birthday the Ni Arouk and the Arouk Ta celebrated, energetically. Jason, or Lizard Brain, as the girls referred to him when they were all naked, was the luckiest man alive in his own estimation. He had the girl of his dreams in Sandra, and she didn’t mind sharing him now and again with her two best friends. Katlyn and Elise were as in love as he and Sandra, and Sandra had thought that the other two girls were missing out, having not had a real cock. So on Katlyn’s birthday they had come together in a euphoric orgy of mutual pleasure and experience.

Everyone in the compound knew the exact moment Katlyn had lowered herself onto Jason. They knew the first, second, and third time she had come. They knew when Sandra came, thrashing her hair wildly as she rode Jason’s face. They knew when Elise had taken Katlyn’s place atop Jason, and they knew when, after four earth shattering orgasms, she, Jason, Sandra, and Katlyn all came apart screaming and laughing in mutual ecstasy. 

On this night the inhabitants of the Wales Dragon Reserve were in for quite a ride. The nervous energy from the battle still fresh, the four had bid goodnight to their principals and repaired to Katlyn and Elise’s cabin. The armor had been unceremoniously piled next to the shower, and the four had reveled in cleansing each other of the grime of battle. Seamus and Lavender had just stepped from the shower in their cabin when she felt Katlyn taste Elise.

_Two can play at that,_ she thought. With a quick flick Seamus was naked, his towel flying across the room, and with a quick shove he was sprawled on the couch. She took his already stiff cock in her mouth and purred. In the link she felt Sandra do the same with Jason. Seamus, for his part, could feel them too. Lavender, out of habit, extended the link to him, and he and Jason traded mental high fives as their women delivered very special blow jobs. All the while Katlyn and Elise used their lips, tongues, hands, and wands to pleasure each other.

Elise performed the depilatory charm, _Alipicia,_ extensively on herself. The only hair on her body was on her head, but she preferred Katlyn to have a modest garden. Katlyn’s red hair being one of Elise’s greatest pleasures, she reveled in plundering the treasure nestled in the auburn curls. For her part Katlyn loved the smooth slickness and warm clench of her lover around her fingers, and the taste of her as she came.

Sandra and Jason lost themselves in mutual pleasure, stroking, kissing, licking and nipping their way across each other until they were engulfed in an embrace by Katlyn and Elise. Hands were everywhere, kissed rained, Elise tweaked Sandra’s nipples as Katlyn guided Jason’s cock into the blonde girl, and then Jason pulled Elise onto his face. Sandra kissed Katlyn passionately. She sank two fingers up to the knuckles in her friend and twitched her thumb over the slick folds she found.

Across the compound Lavender was coming. Seamus sucked and twirled his tongue as his wife wriggled and twisted on the couch. When she screamed and clutched his hair for the third time a powerful wave passed through the link and he felt it trigger the other girls into a massive mutual climax.

  _Well, Jase me lad, let’s give’ em something to remember,_ Seamus sent to his friend.

_Absolutely, my mentor._ The young man responded.

The two men concentrated on a new charm they had invented. _Vibris!_ they silently incanted.

Both Seamus and Jason began to shake softly but rapidly. Lavender and Sandra squealed and came from the sudden new stimulation. Elise gasped and froze, then shouted as she too shuddered in orgasm. Sandra traded places with Katlyn, and the red head slowly took Jason’s vibrating cock.

In Seamus and Lavender’s cabin Lavender was building to another, even high pinnacle. Seamus had her, and through the link he could feel Jason, Sandra, and Elise bringing Katlyn and themselves to the edge. Seamus stroked his humming fingers across Lavender’s nipples and that was it. A wave of ecstasy burst from both Arouk, was amplified by the Ta Arouk, and swept across the compound.  

 

~(*)~

 

Seamus looked at the door to the shop when the little bell rang. “Welcome to Malkin and Goldstein,” Parvati said. The girls looked to be fourth or fifth years. “What can I help you with?” The two girls looked with wide eyes around the shop. A joint venture between United Charities and Madam Malkin, Malkin and Goldstein procured high end fashions from, as it said on the sign, Paris, New York, London and Hong Kong. It was yet another successful venture on the part of the charity. It also gave Pansy and Parvati a very convenient excuse to indulge their addiction to haute couture.

“We heard that Katlyn and Elise buy their clothes here, is that true?” the dark haired girl in the blue dress asked.

Parvati closed her eyes and smirked. “Kat and El shop here occasionally, yes.”

“We’re looking for the outfit Katlyn was wearing when she sang ‘The Love of Asgre’ at the presentation.” The other girl wearing a Ravenclaw t shirt said.

“You and every other girl that’s walked through our doors in the last week and a half,” Parvati said with a laugh. “Elise bought the shirt for Katlyn whilst she was in Paris, we’ve arranged with the manufacturer to have a selection of sizes shipped in, and they should be in stock next week. In the interim, we have the trousers, belt, shoes, and jacket.” She looked around the shop. “Clarisse and Janet are busy it seems, I suppose I can show them to you.” Seamus smirked, and Parvati shook with silent laughter as she walked toward the rear of the store with the most exclusive and expensive selections.

The two girls walked around one of the racks in the fitting area and into a conversation.

“Vous aimez, Katlyn?” the young black woman asked her friend who was twirling in a light, form fitting, pale aqua dress.

“Oui, c’est beau, mon amor,” Katlyn said and kissed Elise on the lips.

“Beauté pour la belle,” Elise replied and kissed Katlyn back.

Katlyn ran a finger down the side of Elise’s face. “Mon amour est beaut’e, je suis plaine,” she said.

Elise shook her head. “Non, vous êtes belle, mon amour. Ne doute jamais”

Katlyn kissed her fiercely. “Je t’aime, Elise,” she said in a husky voice.

Pavati leaned in to the two dumbstruck girls and whispered, “Breath.”

“Kat, El, what about this one?” a voice said from behind Parvati and the two still mute girls. A tall blonde young woman stepped around Parvati holding a scarlet dress. “I’ll just… Oh please!”

Katlyn and Elise laughed as they separated from their embrace.

“I can’t leave you two alone ever!” she shook her head. “Well, if I get this one I’ll have to not stand next to Kat, we’d clash like crazy… oh hello,” Sandra said to the two girls.

They nodded dumbly until Parvati leaned in and whispered. “Say, ‘Hello, Miss Wormwood’,”

“Hello, Miss Wormwood,” They repeated in awestruck voices.

Sandra chuckled to herself. “Hi, I’m Sandy,” she said and rolled her eyes. “The approachable one.” She shook their hands. “You’d like to meet Kat and El?”

They nodded while still gaping at her.

Katlyn and Elise had watched the whole exchange with smiles and snickers. Sandra usually intercepted the adoring and calmed them before introducing them to any of the rest of the Arouk. As it turned out most adults gave them their privacy, but anyone under twenty was liable to run to them. Katlyn had developed a report with the children, and it usually her that dealt with the under ten crowd. Sandra and Jason handled the Hogwarts aged, and Elise was usually the least mobbed unless there was someone that spoke French. She spoke English well, but she preferred her native language. 

Elise smiled broadly and took the girls hands. “Bonjour,” she said. “Je m’appelle Elise, Quel est votre nom?”

One of the girls smiled and in school book French said, “Bonjour, Mademoiselle Monforte, enchant’e. Je suis Mary, et c’est mon ami Hilde.”

Elise smiled again. “Tre bien,” she said. “Mary, Hilde, C’est Katlyn,” she said, and looked at her love.

Katlyn bent and took their hands. “Hello, Mary, Hilde, I’m Katlyn Mclellen,” she said.

She was still getting used to the tears. About half the time an unknown girl was presented to her they cried. At first she was a little distressed, but Lavender had told her that it happened to her too. It was just a reaction half of the girls and a few of the boys had to meeting an idol. It didn’t help that Katlyn had grown out of her teenaged gawkiness into a slender and attractive young woman. She had kept her hair long, but as was her habit, it was in one long plait down her back. She drew a handkerchief from her bag and dabbed at an embarrassed Mary’s eyes.

“It’s okay, this happens a lot. You’re just happy to see us.” She stepped back. “What do you think of the dress?”

Mary found her voice. “It’s beautiful,” she said.

Katlyn smiled at her. “Thank you. Good, I have to rely on El to dress me for formal meetings.” She laughed and Elise joined her. “I have no idea about clothes, colors, styles, I’m clueless.”

Elise laughed. “Sens de l'élégance elle a merde,” she said.

Katlyn looked at Elise. “va te faire foutre!”

A smoky look crossed Elise’s face. “Oui, mon Cherie,” she said, low and husky.

“Children,” Sandra said in a low sing song without moving her mouth. _Really? Seriously?_ She sent and rolled her eyes.

“You three done yet?” a male voice said, and Jason stepped into the fitting area. Katlyn was pretty, Elsie prettier still, Sandra was by all accounts beautiful, but none of them had the effect on the opposite sex that Jason had. The two girls were silent and drop jawed once more, and their faces were bright red.

Sandra laughed. “Mary, Hilde, this is my _boyfriend_ , Jason Heathman,” she said. 

Parvati leaned into the girls once again. “And breath,” she said laughing.

Jason took their right hands and kissed them. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Mary’s jaw worked up and down but nothing came out. Her friend, Hilde, was able to say, “I … Um… You guys were great!”

Behind the girls, Katlyn, Elise and Sandra were silently chuckling. Sandra smiled at him and sent, _you’re such an arsehole!_

Jason winked at her, sat on a bench, and motioned for the girls to sit next to him. “Went to the show, did you?” he asked.

They nodded.

“What was your favorite part?”

They looked at Katlyn. “The songs,” Hilde said.

Jason nodded. “Yeah, we worked hard on that, we did.”

Mary said, “In the program it said that you and Katlyn wrote the songs, they were terrific.”

Jason smiled and nodded. “Kat actually does the composing, I just get it down.” He smiled at his friend. “She sings all the damn time, makes up songs on the fly. I just record what she does, and then Leopold and I try to score around her melodies.”

Another woman entered the now crowded back area of Malkin and Goldstein. “We’ve got forty five minutes, snap to it, Arouk,” Seamus said from the bench he had sat on.

Parvati hugged her best friend. “You found the perfume?”

Lavender nodded. “I love Harrods, but my god the crowd.”

“And this,” Jason said to the two awestruck girls. “Is Lavender Finnigan. Lavender, this is Hilde and Mary.”

They nodded mutely. Mary and Hilde had never expected in their wildest dreams to be sitting in a room with all five Arouk. Hilde spoke up. “Pleased to meet you,” she said to Lavender. “Where are you going today?”

“Tea with Her Majesty and the Duchess of York,” Lavender said with a smile. “Her Majesty requires our presence once a month at tea, and Sarah has become a close friend of ours, so we meet every third Tuesday.”

“That’s not all we’re doing today, don’t forget,” Seamus said.

“As if we would,” Jason said as he stood.

At Mary’s inquisitive look Katlyn said. “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wanted a little private time, so we took them to a special place we have set aside just for us and Dumbledore’s Army.”

“Aye, and Nona’s patronus said they’d be ready this afternoon, so let’s not be dallying,” Seamus said.

“I think you’re all sorted,” Parvati said. “I’ll put everything on your account.”

“Thanks, Parv,” Lavender said and hugged her friend. “You and Anthony have Urbett next?”

She nodded “Next week, so make sure our royals didn’t make a mess,” she said, laughing.

Katlyn, Elise, Jason, and Sandra had been silently conversing while Lavender and Parvati talked. Jason pulled two small black discs from his robe pocket. He handed one to Mary and one to Hilde. “These are two of Morton’s scales,” he told them. “At the next presentation go to the secure entrance beforehand and show these to the agent. He’ll let you through.” He put his hand on Mary’s shoulder. “You can help us get ready, would you like that?”

Once more Parvati leaned it to the girls and said, “breath.”

Seamus laughed. “Alright,” he said. “We’re settled and sorted then, Parv?”

She nodded.

“Let’s be off then, busy day ahead.” He turned to the girls. “’m Seamus Finnigan, by the way. Pleased to meet you.” He chuckled at their wide eyed faces and patted Mary’s shoulder. “See you at the next presentation. Come on, you lot!”

Outside Malkin and Goldstein they prepared to Apparate to Windsor. Lavender turned to her husband. “We did it again.” She tilted her head at the shop window and the two awed faces.

“Aye, me love,” he said and slid his arm around her waist to side along Apparate. “But they’ll be fans and allies for life. Jason’s right. The more we do, the more we share with them, the easier it is to get them all to treat the Kind well.” He laughed as he pulled his wand and then kissed her in the middle of Diagon alley square for all to see. “You’ve said it yourself many times.” He looked into her eyes as they twisted into the dark. “All’s fair.”

 

~(*)~

Finis

~(*)~

**_And thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. Please review, favorite and share._ **

 

The French.

French class was 42 years ago, so give me a break.

“Vous aimez, Katlyn?”

Do you like it Katlyn?

“Oui, c’est beau, mon amor,”

Yes, it’s beautiful, my love

beauté pour la belle

beauty for the beautiful 

Mon amour est beaut’e, je suis plaine

My love is beautiful, I am plain

Non, vous êtes belle, mon amour. Ne doute jamais”

No, you are beautiful, my love. never doubt it

Je m’appelle Elise, Quel est votre nom?

My name e is Elise, what’s your name?

Bonjour, Mademoiselle Monforte, enchant’e. Je suis Mary, et c’est mon ami Hilde

Hello miss Monforte pleased to meet you. My name is Mary and this is my friend Hilde

Tre bien

Very good

Sens de l'élégance elle a merde,”

She has shit fashion sense

. “va te faire foutre!”

Kiss my arse

 

 


	21. The Future

**_A/N This not so little coda just kept insisting it be done. I’ll be back at Hermione’s story from now on._ **

 

All’s Fair

The Future

 

“Mum, Mum, you will not believe what just happened!” Mary Wellborn said with wide eyes.

Vixen Wellborn looked at her daughter and her daughter’s best friend. They were practically bursting. “Sit, and have your ice cream. You can tell me all about it,” she said. 

Vixen chuckled to herself, Mary was trembling with excitement. “We just met Katlyn, Elise, Sandra, Jason, and Lavender!” She said and looked her mother with glassy eyes and a smile a mile wide. “Mum, they are so… cool!”

 

~*~

 

Dame Lavender Finnigan

Whales Dragon Reserve

 

My dear Dame Finnigan

I am Vixen Wellborn.

I would like to thank you and your apprentices for the kind invitation they extended to my daughter, Mary, and her best friend, Hilde Frazen. They are very naturally excited to be included in your pre performance preparations. When they talked of this (nonstop for the last week) it became apparent that I should contact you and seek advice on what they should be looking forward too. Their imaginations have carried them into some quite far reaching speculations, much to my and my husband’s amusement.

I cannot thank your apprentices enough for their kindness, and for the grace with which they conducted themselves. You have done very well.

 

                                                                                                Vixen Wellborn

~*~

 

 

Seamus looked up from the letter. “Well, they replied. Think they’re candidates?”

“Could be the first two,” Lavender said, nodded, and took up her quill. “And now we respond.”

 

~*~

 

Vixen Wellborn

29 The Old Mill Road

Seran by the Down

Sussex

 

 

Dear Mrs. Wellborn

Thank you for your correspondence and kind words. My fellow Arouk thank you as well. As to your query, we would like to offer Mary and Hilde the opportunity to visit the reserve several times in the up-coming year. This will help prepare them for a more inclusive role in the performance should they wish to participate. If this is amenable to you, your husband, and Hilde’s parents we would like to propose the following schedule.

Next weekend, August 8 and 9. We would like to meet Mary and Hilde at Eylop’s in Diagon Alley at 9 am. We will Apparate to the reserve from there. We will return them to you at 5 pm Sunday in the same location.

The following weekend plus Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Two weekends during the autumn term; Headmistress McGonagall is my former head of house and very accommodating to my requests.

 

Two consecutive days during Christmas break depending on family schedules.

Five weekends during the winter term.

June 10 through performance day and the day after. 

Thank you for considering this learning opportunity for your children.

 

                                                                                                Dame Lavender Finnigan

 

~*~

 

Dame Lavender Finnigan

Whales Dragon Reserve

 

 

My dear Dame Finnigan,

Did you hear the squeals in Whales? A herd of hippogriff could not keep Mary and Hilde from coming to visit the reserve and experiencing the incredible opportunity you have extended. They will be ready and on their best behavior you can rest assured. 

Thank you is not enough, but I suppose it will have to be.

 

                                                                                                Vixen Wellborn

 

~*~

 

Seamus was just paying for the charmed teeth cleansing bones when the door chime sounded. The Eylope’s clerk, John Fawcette from his nametag, waved to the beautiful dark haired woman and the two girls with her. “I’ll be just a moment,” he called.

“Aye, John, I believe they’re here for me,” Seamus said with a laugh. “Seamus Finnigan,” he said, and held out his hand to the woman.

“Vixen Wellborn, a very great pleasure, Sir Finnigan, very great indeed,” she said.

Seamus smiled and nodded. “Hope I don’t disappoint. Mary, Hilde, good to see you again.” He chuckled to himself. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” they said excitedly. 

Seamus laughed and winked at Vixen Wellborn. “No, you’re not, but let’s go anyway. See you on Sunday, Mrs. Wellborn.”

~*~

They snapped back into reality on the arrival pad. Seamus smiled at the memory from years past when Charlie had met him and Lavender here. Their lives had changed that day. Mary and Hilde were in for the same day. “Welcome to the Whales Dragon Reserve,” he said. “Today ‘m handin you off to Elise. She’s waiting for you at Gavina’s.” He started down the gravel path to the common field. 

There was a roar and a woman’s magically amplified voice boomed, “Heads up, Finnigan!” Seamus and the girls ducked as a large green dragon skimmed fifteen feet over their heads.

He laughed along with the woman as she and the dragon disappeared over a ridge. “Pansy has a twisted sense of humor,” he said. “Can’t help but love the woman though. You’ll see.”

“That was Dame Greymartin… and Brighid?” Hilde asked.

“Aye, she and Brighid are fast and true these days,” he said, and led them on.

The two girls marveled in hushed tones at the dragons in the common field as they approached the dark blue port box. “Step in, close the door, say ‘Gavina’, and step out. Elise ‘ll be there.” His jovial manner fell away and he looked at them seriously. “Ladies, this will be the defining moment in your lives, it will. What you choose today, what you show Elise, what you show Lavender, will determine the course of the future for you.” He smiled to them “That being said, enjoy yourselves, and most importantly, be yourselves. If you are honest and true, if you love fully and stand, you will have a grander adventure than you could imagine.” He nodded at the door. “Go on.”

Seamus watched them enter the port box. “Good luck, Ni Arouk Ta Lei, Ni Arouk Ta Lau,” he whispered, and smiled as the door closed.

~*~

Mary opened the port box door and stepped out. She and Hilde found themselves in clearing among a grove of tall trees with a large cave opening in the side of the mountain before them. A young black woman with braided hair and striking features rose from her seat on a fallen log and approached them.

“Bonjor, Marie, Hilde, a pleasure to see you again. We will converse in mostly English today as it will be easier for all, Oui?” she asked.

“Whatever you want, Mademoiselle Monforte,” Hilde said.

“Please call me Elise.” She smiled. “Excepting when we are in lessons, as we are now, zen you will refer to me as Arouk Ta Nie.”

“Certainly, Arouk Ta Nie,” Mary said, and Hilde nodded.

“Today we will see if you have what is required, no?” Elise said, and strode away towards the edge of the woods. “Allez,” she said, and the two girls followed. Elise stopped about twenty feet from where the grass ended at the undergrowth began. “Malcolm? Malcolm, Mon Amor!” Elise called into the woods. “He is playing,” she said in a whisper. “I can feel him. He is just inside zee wood behind us and will jump out to try and frighten us. Pretend to be startled, he will like zat, oui?”

Hilde looked at Mary and nodded, the conversation with Hilde’s older cousin, a Gryffindor, playing in both their memories. _Don’t let fear stop you, that’s all you need to know. They’re  dragons!!! Of course you will be afraid, but you know you can trust Katlyn and Dame Finnigan not to get you hurt._

In the woods, fifty yards away, Lavender, Katlyn, Sandra and Jason sat with joined hands. _I wouldn’t count on that,_ Lavender sent in the link, and Elise sniggered.

With a loud roar, seven and a half tons of playful dragon leapt over the tree tops. Mary and Hilde turned and shrieked. They hid their smiles behind their hands and turned to Elise. She nodded and said, “Tre bien.” Then she turned to the dragon. “Malcolm, you rascal,” she said and hugged his neck just below his chin. She scratched his throat and he purred loudly. As Hilde and Mary looked on, Elise showed them what it truly was to be Arouk.

 They touched, they caressed, all with greatest care. It was obvious that the dragon and the young woman were deeply bonded partners. Not master and pet, or even simple acceptance, but love and respect shown through in the way she stroked her hand along the underside of his jaw, and the way he, with the gentlest touch picked her from the ground and hugged her.

Elise turned to the girls as Malcolm set her down. “As you have seen in zee presentations, Malcolm and I are one soul. To be Arouk requires zee utmost dedication, zee utmost honor, and unconditional love for your friend. It is hard and tiring, and zere is much to learn, but it is zee best of all possible lives.” She looked into the two girl’s faces and asked, “Is zis a life you would desire?”

Mary and Hilde nodded solemly.

 Elsie showed a small grin, bowed slightly, and held out her hand to the girls. “Attend,” she said.

The two girls walked to Elise and took her hand. The Arouk Ta Nie stroked Malcolm’s cheek and, with the combined power of the Arouk of the Whales Dragon Reserve, submerged the two girls in the thoughts and memories of the Kind and the Arouk.

 

~*~

 

Vixen Wellborn appraised her daughter and the girl she referred to as ‘Mary’s sister’. Something was decidedly different about them. They looked out at the world with an air of maturity they didn’t even hint at when they had left for the reserve. They smiled and chatted with Katlyn and Elise, but there was no nervous adulation to their conversation, only questions about the dragons and how they would next visit he reserve. It was as if they had aged five years in a weekend. Vixen was impressed.

She looked at the blonde woman next to her. “However it is you do this, you should bottle it. They have… grown. In just two days. What happened to those two giggling girls?”

“The Arouk,” Lavender said. “And the Kind.” Lavender took Vixen Wellborn’s hand. “Your daughter and Hilde passed some very important tests this weekend.” She smiled at the dark haired woman. “Exceptionally well I might add, Mrs. Wellborn. “

“Vixen, please.”

“Lavender, and you should get to know the rest of us. You and Hilde’s parents are going to be in rather frequent conversation with us going forward.”

 

~*~

 

“Good morning,” Seamus said. “Good to see you again Vixen, Daniel.” He turned to Hilde’s parents. “And good to see you here at the reserve at last, Elias, Martine. Today, apparently, is the day.”

The walked away from the arrival pad, the old pewter goblet that was their portkey sitting patiently on one side waiting for their return. Vixen Wellborn still occasionally gaped in wonder at the life her daughter had become so comfortable with. She snickered at her friends Martine and Elias Frazen. This was the first time they had accepted one of the multiple invitations Lavender had extended them. Martine worked for a corporation that dealt with the Spanish Ministry, and her translating services required very frequent trips to the continent. Mr. Frazen had been reluctant to come without her.

“So, Martine, Elias tells me you’ve got a bit o’ the jitters when it comes to the Kind,” Seamus said with a snigger.

“Senior Finnigan, I have a fear of snakes, and … the dragons…”

“Are much more like cats than snakes,” Seamus said, and then he chuckled. “Smarter though, and by a good deal.”

“So Hildegard says,” Mrs. Frazen muttered.

 “She’s bein’ true,” Seamus told her. “You’ll see shortly.”

Vixen looked at Seamus. “We’re meeting Asgre and Kaddyl today, aren’t we?’

“Aye,” Seamus said in a serious voice. “The eggs show all the signs, and Big Green and Asgre are very excited. They were fair disappointed that Brighid didn’t have siblings, now she will. Asgre called for Lavender this morning, and Hilde and Mary are there now.” He chuckled. “Been there for the better part of the past three days, they have. Oh, and don’ be worrin about school. Minerva gave them a pass for the next week, and she and Hagrid are giving them special credit for this”

“Hildegard says she can feel the chick in the link, as you call it, even now.” Mrs. Frazen said. “What your wife and her apprentices have accomplished is astounding, and that they can teach it is more amazing still.”

“Aye, Hilde is very excited to meet Gawain.” He turned to the Wellborns. “And Mary is just as excited to meet Owena.” He smiled at his charges. “Today your daughters become Arouk Ta, the first of the next.” He nodded. “Aye, Lavender and Kat can teach the link, and so can Elise, but the both subjects need to be young. We don’t know what the upper age limit is, but they have to still be developing mentally, physically, and magically to learn it. We’ve all tried, and Pan is the only one came close.”

“Dame Greymartin?” Elias Frazen asked.

“Aye,” Seamus said.  “She’s actually very close with Brighid, almost there. Lavender’s looked in on them during their sessions, and she’s very proud of Pansy. She and Brighid are as stubborn as they get; if anyone adult dragon and human can accomplish the link it’ll be Pan and Brighid.”

They approached the large blue box at the edge of the common field. “Looks like a Tardis,” Elias Frazen said, and Seamus laughed.

“Never thought o’ that,” he said, and laughed again at the puzzled looks from the Wellborns and Mrs. Frazen. He turned back to Elias. “Muggle born?”

“My father was, and he loved Dr. Who.”

“Ah, I see.” To the others he said, “Dr. Who is a muggle television show. Me brother loves that show more n’ he loves me.” He opened the door to the port box. “In you go,” he said, and he laughed as he followed them in and closed the door. “This one’s the same size in and out though. Asgre!”

 

~*~

Hilde and Mary sat on Asgre’s paws as the great green dragon slowly puffed hot air on the eggs between her front feet. Large cracks were already showing on the one before Mary and the other had audible tapping coming from it. The two girls were almost in a trance; eye’s closed with hands slightly spread with palms toward the egg in front of them.

Kaddyl stood a few yards away. He alternately looked at this mate and then out across the valley of the reserve. Brighid paced back and forth perhaps another hundred feet from Asgre, Pansy stroking her side and speaking calming words. Seamus smiled. Second to Dean, Pansy Parkinson Greymartin was his greatest friend, and could not be more proud of her. He led the Wellborns and the Frazens to an area about eighty feet from the rookery that he had set up earlier. A table and six chairs sat inside a small circle of boulders. A bottle of wine, a collection of glasses, some cheese, fruit, prosciutto, salami, and a few small loaves of bread sat on wooden platters which in turn sat on a red and white checked table cloth.

“Have a seat,” he said. “We’ll be a while.”

 

~*~

Owena emerged at ten thirty in the evening, Gawain two hours later.

~*~

The sight of their children sleeping along with the infant dragons cuddled in their arms, all of them wrapped in the paws and tail of Asgre, was a sight that would never leave Vixen’s memory. Mary was now Arouk Ta Lei, and Hilde was Arouk Ta Lau.

“She’ll still need this for the next few weeks.” Lavender said as she handed Vixen her daughter’s tie. “Ravenclaw seems to be where most of the Arouk Ta come from,” 

“You and Jason are Gryffindors,” Vixen answered.

Lavender chuckled. “And Kat, Sandra, Mary, and Hilde are all Claws. Two to one. We’ll have to see how this shakes out in the next few years.”

“And Elise?” Vixen asked.

Lavender chuckled. “Pansy insists she’d have been Slytherin, I agree.”

They gazed at the sleeping dragons and the new Arouk Ta for a few silent moments. “How did you know?” Vixen asked Lavender softly.

Lavender smiled at her friend. “Kat and the three amigos looked in their minds when they met them in the shop. They saw the depth of their friendship, and that’s the most important part of being Arouk, the ability to love another as friend. They pointed it out to me when we got back to the reserve. It was why Jason gave them the scales. We decided then that they would be the first of the new Arouk Ta if they passed the audition.”

“If I hadn’t written…”

“None of this would have happened,” Lavender finished for her. “Vixen,” Lavender said, and looked at her friend with the most serious expression. “We didn’t do them any favors. This life they are now committed to is a hard one; very, very rewarding, but also quite demanding and arduous. For instance their last two years at Hogwarts will be just like all of Katlyn’s. They will be _hugely_ famous after the show, and even though Minerva will admonish the students not to harass them, it will happen. And that’s just a small part of it.”

“They’re already getting some of that. Their dorm mates figured out where they’ve been sneaking off to a few weeks ago.”  Vixen looked at Lavender with concern.” Do you intend to train them the way you trained all the others?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Vixen nodded. _Acceptance_ she thought. “All ‘s fair in Dragon Land, eh?” she asked to no one.

~*~

“Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the twelfth annual United Charities Special Presentation!” The crowd was the largest ever convened in the history of wizarding England. Thirty-five thousand people filled the enormous stadium set in a valley eighteen miles east of the reserve. As the roar subsided Pansy stepped off the small stage at the center of the pitch. “Every year Lavender has surprised and amazed us. First she showed us what it was to be Arouk, and what it costs to cross her.” She smiled as the crowd laughed. “Then she introduced us to Katlyn, who in turn introduced us to Sandra, Jason, and Elise.” More applause and cheers sounded from the stands. “In the ensuing ten years they have shown us the love and skill and talent that they all possess. From Katlyn and Jason’s musical ability to Sandra and Elise’s acrobatic gifts, we have seen and heard amazing and beautiful things in these presentations. This year, this year will be one for the ages.” She chuckled to herself. Ladies and gentlemen, Katlyn Mclellen and the Arouk Ta!”

 

The stadium was plunged into darkness. In the inky blackness a voice, hoarse and commanding, spoke.

“And in the fullness of time the ranks of the Arouk Ta will grow,

for the earth will require them. 

When the comets rise, when the sky glows pink, when the Kind reclaim their rightful place,

Then they will be called to defend against the greatest threat.

Nine thousand strong they will be, bearing Muggle and wizard alike.

And this is how the world will be saved.”

 

As professor Trelawney’s voice faded the spotlights came up on Katlyn, once more standing in the center of the pitch. Elise, Jason and Sandra stood behind her.  The music swelled and they all began to sing, Katlyn in Welsh, and the Arouk Ta echoing her in English.

_“Yn y noson diddiwedd oedd yn ei ben ei hun_

_In the endless night he was alone._

_Ac yng ngoleuni hi yn galaru iddo_

_and she mourned for him in the light._

_mae pob byth cyfan, byth yn hapus_

_Each never whole, never happy,_

_byth mewn heddwch_

_never at peace.”_

Katlyn stepped forward and sang solo.

 

_“Hi y frenhines o fywyd_

_(She the queen of life),_

_ac efe y meistr o gariad_

_(and he the master of love),_

_yng ngwres y frwydr cawsant eu gwahanu_

_(In the heat of battle they were parted),_

_pob un yn credu y colledig eraill_

_(each believing the other lost).”_

The music tempo sped up and then became a driving beat.

_“Dewch yn ôl ataf, fy nghariad, fy nghalon_

_(Come back to me, my love, my heart)._

_Dewch yn ôl i mi y gall yr ydym byth yn rhan_

_(Come back to me that we may never part)._

_Ar gyfer ein plentyn wedi tyfu_

_(For our child has grown),_

_ac mae'r hadau yn cael eu hau_

_(and the seeds are sown)._

_Dewch yn ôl ataf_

_(Come back to me)._

_Dewch ... yn ôl i mi_

_(Come… back to me).”_

The Arouk Ta joined her again

_“Ac yn y gwyll clywodd ei chân_

_And in the gloom he heard her song,_

_‘Rwy'n dod, fy nghariad, i chi a'ch kind_

_I come, my love, for you and your kind.’_

_I fod yn gyfan, i fod yn hapus_

_To be whole, to be happy,_

_i fod mewn heddwch_

_to be at peace.”_

Katlyn leapt off the stage and sang with a voice full of emotion and power.

_“Hi y frenhines o fywyd_

_(She the queen of life),_

_ac efe y meistr o gariad_

_(and he the master of love),_

_Yng ngwres y frwydr daethant o hyd gilydd…_

_(In the heat of the battle they found each other…)_

_eto._

_(again)._

_Rwyf wedi dod yn ôl i chi, fy nghariad, fy nghalon_

_(I’ve come back to you, my love, my heart)._

_Rwyf wedi dod atoch chi ac ni fyddwn byth yn gwahanu_

_(I’ve come to you and we will never part)._

_Ar gyfer ein plentyn wedi tyfu_

_(For our child has grown),_

_ac mae'r hadau yn cael eu hau_

_(and the seeds are sown)._

_Rwyf wedi dod yn ôl atoch_

_(I’ve come back to you)._

_Rwyf wedi .. ddod yn ôl atoch_

_(I’ve… come back to you).”_

The Arouk Ta joined her again.

_“Yn y tywyllwch y nos clywsom eu galwad_

_In the dark of the night we heard their call_

_‘Bydd bywyd newydd yn codi noson hon’_

_‘New life will rise this night’_

_I fod yn gyfan, i fod yn hapus_

_To be whole, to be happy,_

_i fod mewn heddwch_

_to be at peace.”_

_“Hi y frenhines o fywyd_

_She the queen of life,_

_ac efe y meistr o gariad_

_and he the master of love,_

_Yn y gwres cariad y maent yn dod o hyd ei gilydd ... eto!_

_In the heat of love they found each other… again!_

_Rwyf wedi dod yn ôl i chi, fy nghariad, fy nghalon_

_I’ve come back to you, my love, my heart._

_Rwyf wedi dod atoch chi ac ni fyddwn byth yn gwahanu_

_I’ve come to you and we will never part._

_Ar gyfer ein plentyn wedi tyfu_

_For our child has grown,_

_ac mae'r hadau yn cael eu hau_

_and the seeds are sown._

_Rwyf wedi dod yn ôl atoch_

_I’ve come back to you._

_Rydych wedi dod yn ôl i mi._

_You’ve come back to me._

_A byddwn yn hedfan mewn buddugoliaeth._

_And we will soar in victory._

_Ac rydym yn ... byddwn i gyd yn rhad ac am ddim_

_And we… we shall all be free.”_

Seamus felt the stands rumble from the applause and cheers. To his left Sandra’s parents were smiling and sharing comments with Jason’s. On his right Mr. and Mrs. Monforte were watching the show and occasionally chatting with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The Queen and Prince Phillip hadn’t missed a show since the second one. Her Majesty had become one of the Arouk’s greatest admirers, and she insisted on attending every show. He smirked at the Wellborns and the Frazens. They were still a bit dazed at the company they were keeping in the VIP box. The Minister sat beside Martine, and he smiled and joked easily with the newest members of the rather exclusive club that met once a year in the VIP box.

“Well, here we all are again,” Katlyn said, and the crowd cheered. “Today we begin a new chapter in the relationship between the Kind and humanity. A prophesy, part of which you heard at the beginning of the show, was given to Lord Potter four years ago.”

Jason spoke from the stage. “We have studied the words, and delved into what they could mean, because as we all know, prophecy is ambiguous at best.” A murmur of laughter passed through the crowd. “Yes, but one thing was very clear. There will be more Arouk Ta, there must be.”

“It is a necessary zing.” Elise said. “Zee Arouk may be zee last. As zee loup-garou, zee werewolf, become more rare, as zey decline, zere will be fewer Arouk. Zere may be a day when zere are none.”

“And we are preparing for that day,” Sandra said. If Katlyn and Lavender are to be the last Arouk it falls to the Arouk Ta to carry on the work. To do that, we will need more, many more, and our quest, our mission has begun.”

“We have found and trained two new Arouk Ta,” Katlyn told the audience and they whispered in curiosity. “The Arouk Ta Lei and the Arouk Ta Lau are bound to the newest chicks of the reserve, the children of Asgre and Kaddyl, Gawain and Owena.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Lavender’s voice boomed in the public address shells. “Please welcome for the first time, Asgre, Kaddyl, and their children Owena, and Gawian, with the Arouk Ta Lei and the Arouk Ta Lau.”

Kaddyl was first through the opening above the pitch, Mary Wellborn astride him holding Owena too her chest. Then Asgre, with Lavender and Hilde, Gawain clinging tightly to Hilde’s back, dove into the stadium. The crowd roared at the appearance of the two dragons, and Mary and Hilde waved back. Kaddyl landed, and Mary, with her perfected style, slid down his leg. “Hello everyone,” she said to the people in the stands. “I am Mary Wellborn, Arouk Ta Lei.” She smiled broadly. “This is Kaddly!” she said, and caressed the great dragon’s cheek as the audience cheered. “And this is my friend, Kaddyl and Asgre’s daughter, Owena,” she stroked the neck of the chick now wrapped around her shoulders. Mary smiled as she heard their names shouted back from the stands mixed with in with the applause. 

On the other side of the pitch Lavender and Hilde had also dismounted. “Hello again everyone,” Lavender said, and waved to the crowd. “This is my dearest friend, Asgre!”

As the crowd roared Lavender sent, _As I said, my dearest._

_YOU SPOKE TRULY, KA AROUK,_ Asgre sent back.

“Thank you all,” Katlyn said as the applause subsided, and then she indicated the great green dragon at her side. “As you may have read, we liberated Kaddyl from his prison two years ago. He and Asgre decided that Brighid deserved siblings, and that they would gift the first of the new Arouk Ta with their own children.”

“Owena and Gawain hatched just a four and a half months ago,” Hilde said. “Hello all, I am Hilde Frazen, Arouk Ta Lau, and this is Gawain.”

“Mary and Hilde are the first of the next,” Lavender told the audience after the applause quieted. “But they are just the first. Once again we have asked that the children, this time aged twelve, place their names in a bin.”

“Our mission, as you heard, will require many Arouk Ta,” Elise said. She looked up at the audience, a kind expression on her face. “I have been where you sit now. Do not be afraid.”

“We have perfected a charm that will allow us to select the best candidates for Arouk Ta,” Jason said. “Not all who are called will pass the test and become what we are, but you will, if you desire, be one of the Dragon Friends.”

Sandra stepped forward as Katlyn spun on her heal and Apparated away. “Katlyn has gone to get the Lord of the Kind. We and he have a bargain for you, we have a plan and a purpose, and we need your help.” She looked up at the Welsh sky and the silvery shape in the clouds. “Ladies and gentlemen, Horatius, Lord of the Kind.”

The murmur of puzzlement turned to gasps of awe as Horatius spiraled down to the pitch. Katlyn was sat on his shoulders, and she addressed the crowd. “Beautiful, isn’t he?” she asked quietly as they landed.

“Yes,” she heard is hushed and amazed tones.

“Horatius can speak to you through me, and he has a question for you.” Still astride him she laid her hand on his neck and closed her eyes. “Humans, we believe your sear is correct. We have met with the centaurs, and they agree. All life on our world, our home, is threatened. From what, we know not, but it is clear that we all must band together or we will all perish.”

Horatius strode to the side of the pitch near the VIP box and Katlyn addressed the occupants. “You are the lords of your kin, you are tasked with their protection and preservation, and you are honor bound to do your duty.” He stepped back and swept the audience with his gaze. “I, Lord of the Kind, hereby offer this bargain. We will gift our children to you if you gift yours to them. Some will become Arouk Ta. They will be our children’s companions, defenders, and partners, and they will live in our memories forever.”

Katlyn opened her eyes and addressed the audience in her own voice. “This is no small thing. The Kind value their children as much as we do.”

“We, Mary and I, want you to know that your children are being called for a great purpose,” Hilde said. “Asgre and Kaddyl have privileged me and Mary with their children so that you can see what the bond is.” She smiled at Elise. “To be Arouk is the highest calling. We are their friends, their companions, and so much more.”

“The older a person is, the harder it is to achieve the link alone.” Mary told the audience. “This is why we are asking only for younger children. Hilde and I are perhaps a bit older than optimum, but with hard work and dedication it can be done. And the same holds for the Kind. The Arouk Ta bond forms easiest if the dragons are infants.”

The Arouk gathered around Lavender, and joined hands. Asgre, Kaddyl, and Horatius circled behind them, lay down next to the Arouk, and brushed them with their whiskers. Lavender looked up into the stadium. “The Kind have offered a grand bargain between themselves and humanity,” she said, and looked directly at the Minister for Magic, then the Queen, and then the Prime Minister of England. “If the Arouk and the Kind accept you, will you accept us?”

“Yes,” the audience cried

“Do you know us for what we are, and do you accept what we will do?” she asked.

Kingsley Shacklebolt gasped. “Finnigan?” he said, as he whipped around and looked at Seamus.

As the audience said “Yes,” in hushed tones, Seamus smiled slyly. “Aye, Minister?”

“Is she…”

“Do you seek our aid?” Lavender asked.

“Yes, she is,” Seamus said.

“Yes!” the crowd shouted to Lavender.

“And so the bargain is made!” Lavender said, and blue glow of magic flared to life around the Arouk. A wave of golden sparks flowed out from them, across the pitch, and into the stands. In the link Lavender swept the stands with their combined senses. Katlyn silently cast the Arouk Ta finding charm, and they all felt bright sparks stand out among the audience.

A slip of parchment appeared floating in front of Jason. “Astrid Martin,” he read. Ten more slips appeared over the ensuing three minutes, and Jason read the names. When the golden, glittering shimmer dissipated, the Arouk woke from their near trance.

Lavender smiled up at the crowd and then looked slyly at Jason and Sandra. She nodded to them, and they Apparated. “Thank you,” she said. “To those of you that were called, the work starts now. If you would, please bring your parents to the pavilion. You will find an entrance marked ‘Ni Arouk’. Dame Greymartin will meet you and your parents there. To those of you that were not called, don’t be sad. There will be more than enough opportunity to work with the Kind if you choose. We will need many Dragon Friends to meet the needs of the prophesy.”

“We know zere are many who are disappointed,” Elise said. “Truly, to care for zee number of zee Kind zat is called for will require all of you and more.” She laughed. “And after you hear from zee candidates what zee Arouk Ta training is like you may feel lucky.”

“Aye, I’m too nice so we’ve decided Elise is lead instructor.” Katlyn said and laughed.

Mary Wellborn giggled and stroked Owena’s neck. “Hilde and I say she’s our ‘kind’ instructor. She’s kind of demanding, she’s kind of strict,” she said.

“She’s kind of a ruddy pain in our…” 

Hilde was interrupted by Elise’s growl, and the audience roared with laughter.

  “Well, that’s all the serious stuff,” Katlyn said to the audience. “What say we do something fun?”

“Yes!” They cheered back.

Katlyn smiled at them. “The Prophet has sent reporters and gossip writers after us for a good while now, but given Lavender’s relationship with Ms. Skeeter…” she was unable to finish the sentence due to the laughter. “Aye, well they know very little about our personal lives, and that’s just how we like it. We know you love us, and we love you, but nobody wants their lives in the press.”

The crowd chuckled, and the royals in the box laughed and nodded

“That being said, we’d like to invite you all to a wedding.”

The noise from the stands doubled.

“I suppose that’s our cue,” the Minister said as he rose from his chair. “Your Majesty,” he said as he bowed to the Queen. “Your Highnesses.” He bowed to the rest of the royals in the box as Seamus stood. “Coming Mr. Finnigan?” he asked.

“Aye, Minister” he bowed to the royals “Your Majesty, Highnesses,” he said, and followed the Minister out of the box.

Asgre, Kaddyl and Horatius moved away from the center of the pitch. Katlyn stayed next to Horatius as he walked. Mary and Lavender stayed with Asgre, and Hilde walked alongside Kaddyl.

“I shall return shortly,” Elise said and Apparated.

Katlyn crawled up Horatius’ dropped shoulder and mounted. “And I shall sing,” She said as Horatius took flight. The music swelled and Katlyn’s voice filled the stadium.

 

_Oh, rowan tree! Oh, rowan tree ! Thou'lt aye be dear tae me_

_Entwined thou art wi' mony ties o’ hame and infancy_

_Thy leaves were aye the first o' spring, thy flow'rs the summer pride_

_There wasnae sic a bonny tree in a' the countryside_

_Oh! rowan tree !_

 

The Minister followed by Seamus appeared from out of a small door onto the pitch near the VIP box. They walked to the stage still sitting in the center of the pitch and joined Lavender, Mary, Hilde, Asgre and Kaddyl. Gawain licked Kingsley’s cheek as he took his place next to Hilde, and those in the audience that saw laughed.

_How fair wert thou in summer time, wi' a' thy clusters white_

_How rich and gay thy autumn dress, wi’ berries red md bright_

_W e sat eneath thy spreading shade, the bairnies round thee ran_

_They pu’ d thy bonnie berries red and necklaces they strang_

_Oh! rowan tree!_

Two black shapes appeared in the sky, and as they flew toward the open roof of the stadium Katlyn continued.

_On thy fair sterm were mony names, which now nae mair_

_I see But they’re engraven on my heart, forgot they ne’er can be_

_My mother! Oh! I see her still, she smil'd our sports to see_

_Wi’ little Jemnie on her lap, wi' Jamie at her knee!_

_Oh! rowan treel_

Sandra, in a flowing white dress, sat side saddle on Gavina, and Jason, in a custom tailored set of dress robes, sat astride Morton. The two dragons entered the stadium and followed Horatius as he circled the pitch. There were some cheers, but most opted for polite applause. Katlyn continued.

_Oh! there arose my father’s prayer, in holy evenings calm_

_How sweet was then my mother’s voice, in the Martyr’s psalm_

_Now a' are gane! W e meet nae mair meath the rowan tree_

_But hallowed thoughts around thee twine o’ hame and infancy_

_Oh! rowan tree!_

 

As Katlyn finished the song, the three dragons landed, and the three Arouk dismounted. “Welcome to Sandy and Jason’s wedding!” Katlyn cried to the crowd. They clapped and cheered. “D’jya all bring gifts?” she asked, and they laughed.

Sandra and Jason’s parents appeared out of the same door the Minister and Seamus had come from and strolled to their children’s side. Meanwhile Elise and Malcom flew into the upper reaches of the stadium and circled the pitch leaving a constant light shower of white rose petals in their wake.

“I see we’re all assembled,” The minister said. “Shall we begin?’

“Yes!” the audience shouted.

“Dearly beloved,” the Minister began.

Seamus stood next to Jason. He’d been stunned to be offered best man duties. The party the previous week had been a smashing success, and he now had the rings securely in his pocket. As the Minister recited the age old words Seamus took a moment to enjoy where he was.

The green sward spread all around them. Katlyn stood next to her best friend, and held the bouquet when Sandra passed it to her. Lavender, Mary, Hilde, along with the Wormwoods and the Heathmans stood a few yards away from the Minister and their children, the two mothers occasionally dabbing at their eyes. They exchanged their vows, and then Seamus was passing the rings to the Minister. In a few short minutes the crowd was cheering and the newly wedded Heathmans were soaring out of the stadium and on their way to Urbett.

“Thank you,” Lavender said to the audience as the concussion from Jason and Sandra’s apparition faded. “For the final part of the show this year we thought we’d introduce you to a little thing we like to call ‘Dragon Dueling’. Before we start though, we need to send Kaddyl, Mary, Hilde and the chicks home. She extended her hand toward the newest of the Arouk. “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Arouk Ta Lei and the Arouk Ta Lau.”

Mary and Hilde waved to the crowd as they cheered. Then the two girls and their dragon friends mounted Kaddyl. “See you all next year,” Mary said, and waved as Kaddyl took flight.

“Bet on Elise,” Hilde shouted as they disappeared over the edge of the stadium.

“We’ll see about that,” Lavender said with a grin as she walked toward Asgre

“I’d wager on Lavender actually.” Katlyn muttered. “Aye, so here’s how this goes. When we found that we were to be cavalry we decided to perfect the skills that might be needed. Casting from the back of one of the Kind while their twisting through the sky can be a bit of a challenge, as can a lot of what we do.”

She heard agreement from the stands.

“Aye, so we donned our armor and practiced.” She turned to the pitch entrance. “Ladies and gentlemen, the Ni Arouk Ta.”

Pansy stood at the entrance, and as the shield dissolved she stepped through. She was followed by Astrid Martin. Astrid wore the same jacket and trousers that Katlyn and Lavender were dressed in, and she levitated a score board ten feet on a side in from of her. Behind Astrid were two rows of children also dressed as the rest of the Arouk were, and each one was levitating a bundle of armor in front of them. One row had silver armor, the other black. As the audience applauded Astrid and Pansy strode up to Katlyn and Horatius at the center of the pitch, while the row with silver armor went to Lavender, and the row with black armor carried it to Elise.

Lavender walked down the row of her five thanking them and showing them where to lower the armor to the ground. Elise walked down her row, adjusting the wrist position of one boy, and then tapping one girl’s wand hand up so that her bundle stayed level with the rest. “Adequate,” she said and the audience chuckled. “Lower zem gently now, we do not wish them scratched.”

Both groups lowered their bundles to the turf. _“Iduam Arma,”_ Lavender said, and flicked her wand at the bundles of silver. In moments the plates flew from their resting place on the grass and fitted themselves together on her and Asgre. She adjusted the securing straps as Elsie cast the charm and dressed herself and Malcom.

“We would like to thank our goblin friends for their generous gift of armor for the Dragon Friends and the Kind,” Katlyn said. She bent and whispered in Astrid’s ear for a few moments and then stood and smiled. “Astrid will perform the score keeping charm,” she said, and smiled.

Astrid cleared her throat, pointed her wand at the board, and said loudly, “ _Scorus Totalus.”_ The score board began to spin rapidly and two zeros appeared, one red and one green. From anywhere in the stadium the score could be seen in the center of the pitch.

“Well done,” Katlyn told her and then looked up at the crowd. “We generally play to five. The rules are simple, just like in battle, there aren’t any.” She and the audience laughed. “They will get one point for each spell hit and five for a capture.” She looked across the pitch at Elise. “Good luck, Mon Amor.”

Lavender and Asgre took flight, soaring into the sky above the stadium. Then Elise and Malcom flew once around the stadium at seat level before joining Lavender and Asgre. The two dragons flew in a slow circle around the opening above the pitch, dipping and weaving.

“Are you ready?” Katlyn asked.

“Oui,” Elise replied

“Yes,” Lavender said.

Katlyn smirked at the audience. “Lay on!”

Malcom dove at Asgre immediately, and Elise fired a spell barrage at Lavender. Asgre spun and dove while Lavenders shield held off the unending series of spells Elise was unleashing. The two dragons dipped into the stadium and them powered back out as Asgre flipped over on her back and then twisted in behind Malcom. Elise’s shield barely formed in time to deflect Lavender’s spell barrage.

The noise from the crowd was intense on the field. Katlyn bent and cast a muting charm on Astrid’s ears. She looked up just in time to see Elise and Malcom barrel roll, and from her position upside down, Elise was able to get around Lavender’s shield and score a point. 

A red one lit up on the scoreboard.

“Success!” Elise nearly shouted.

“Don’t get used to it,” Lavender’s low growl sounded in the public address shells, and the crowd “Oood.”

Asgre shot straight up, thrusting them into a cloud. Elise was not foolish, and she didn’t follow Asgre and Lavender. She and Malcom circled under the cloud, and Elise cast the _Revello_  charm. At the same instant a bolt of red smashed out of the cloud above her and a loud bell-like sound echoed in the stadium. 

A green one joined the red on the scoreboard.

Elise swore quietly and fired spell after spell into the cloud until, with a roar, Asgre dove out of it on the opposite side from where she and Malcom were. They gave chase, Malcom doing his best to follow Asgre while Elise constantly fired at their backs. Lavender’s shield held. As they approached the stadium again Asgre cornered in midair and flew straight back at Malcom.

Stunned, Malcom swerved to avoid colliding with her, and Lavender scored again.

“Merde!” echoed in the shells and the audience laughed.

Malcom twisted through the air in a complex inverted spiral, and then he suddenly reversed direction and was above and behind Asgre. Elise leapt from his back and landed on Asgre’s just behind her wings. She ran quickly up the greens back and held her wand to Lavender’s neck.

“At last, Ka Arouk, I win!” The audience could hear the joy in her voice.

The illusion Lavender vanished, and her voice sounded in the shells. “I taught you everything you know, Arouk Ta Nie” Lavender said. “But I didn’t teach you everything I know... yet.”

The real Lavender appeared standing just behind Elise with her wand at the young woman’s neck. “Alas, Arouk Ta Nie, not today.”

Elise slumped and then turned and hugged Lavender. “On day, Ka Arouk, one day.” She dove off Asgre’s side and landed on Malcom who was just below them.

“Of this I have no doubt,” Lavender said. “Elise Monforte everyone!”

 

~*~

 

“Nana Elise?”

“Oui, mon Ni Arouk precious?”

“How ill is the Ma Arouk?”

Elise smiled at her granddaughter. “Lavender is not ill; she is just very, very old, she is ninety-eight you know. Zis is why you were born.”

“Oui, I know, but I want her here with us, always,” Luna said.

Elise looked into the sky, the moon was passing in front of the swirling clouds of the gas giant, Hawking. “Zat she is here with us still is blessing enough.” She looked back at Luna. “My darling one, When we found zat what we had expected was not what zee universe had in store for us, we reconsidered our plans. When Oksana, zee Ma Arouk, passed, zee Arouk and the first of zee Arouk Ta decided we must have children. Lord Finnigan was Selene’s father, and Jason fathered your mother, Sandra’s son, and my daughter. We desired you all to be related, you see. Your mother, zee Arouk of Earth, was zee first Ni Arouk to be intentionally born. Selene, Lavender’s daughter, Arouk of Tyson, was zee second. It was an experiment, but as we suspected, an Arouk will birth an Arouk. We were very pleased to find that my daughter and Sandra’s son were natural born Arouk Ta. It was good zat we did zis, it gave us zee Arouk at zee most critical points.”

Katlyn appeared behind Elise and kissed the top of her love’s grey head, her own fiery hair nearly all silver. _I’ll tell the story this time,_ she sent. Katlyn leaned on her cane and sat heavily on the front step of their cabin, the reserve grounds spread before them, with young dragons playing in the common field appearing and disappearing in the morning mist. “Luna, as you have learned, we thought the prophecy meant an attack. When it turned out to be a neutron star ripping through the galaxy at one quarter o’ the speed o’ light it changed the whole o’ our plans, and our relationship with the rest o’ humanity.” She laughed. “We’d spent all that time preparing for a war with aliens. Never happened, but our apparition skills were honed.” She nodded to herself. “Aye, and to the sharpest edge.”

“When the first light of the destruction o’ Procyon reached us it was like a second sun in the sky for close to three weeks. The muggles were in a panic and we weren’t in much better shape. When the shock wave and x-rays began to make the interstellar gas glow we knew this was our time. The first comet was our cue to reveal ourselves.”

“Lord Finnigan proposed the solution; he saved the world,” Katlyn said with a smile. “Took thirty o’ the forty years we had just to raise the numbers of the Kind and Arouk Ta to the nine thousand four hundred we needed, and then five more years to finish training and building the perches and suits for the Kind and riders.” She shook her head. “The comets were coming fast by then, every few months. When we saw a big one heading our way we knew it was time to move.”

“The Great Apparition,” Luna said in an awed voice.

“Oui,” Elise said. “Wiz Lavender and Katlyn above zee nors and souts poles, and Selene and your mother, Sorcha, at zee poles of zee moon, zee Arouk Ta took up zeir positions. It was very odd, being perched on a floating platform in space. Zee muggles performed flawlessly zough. Each of zee perches was in zee precise location we needed it to be in, and zee suits zey and zee goblins made allowed us to concentrate our magic on zee apparition.”

“Professor Hawking was with me at the south pole perch,” Katlyn said. “We had kept him alive for so long, by magic and science and the tears of the Kind.” She chuckled. “And shear force of will on his part.” She smiled fondly. “Aye, Stephen flatly refused to die afore the move. He was one hundred and thirteen by the time we relocated. We’d wake him from hyper sleep, practice long and then even longer jumps, then back in the chamber he’d go. But we learned together, him and me.”

Katlyn looked at the gas giant named for the professor, lightning bolts longer than the earth was wide playing in the swirling purple oval storm that was the Eye of Hawking. “That great mind trapped in the prison of his body was able to map the local stars, and then further and further until he and I came here the first time.  He would show us, Horatius and me, in his mind where we were to go. He was our navigator, he and later professor Tyson. When it was time, we apparated the thirteen thousand light years to a spot out there beyond Hawking’s orbit. There were seventeen moons then. We apparated here, to the eighteenth orbit, and fixed it in our minds.” She looked back into her granddaughter’s eyes. “Luna, you have this same power, never forget. “ She looked at Elise. “We returned to Earth, and I joined with the Arouk.”

“It was our moment, zee Apparition.” Elise looked back at the swirling orange and white clouds of Hawking, the ring shadow a dark black stripe on the planets face. “Zee muggles had found zis place long ago with zier telescopes. Zey knew zis system could house us, and Hawking is gas giant wiz many moons, but we could not move humanity one by one. Luckily zat was not an issue, as zee nine thousand apparated zee whole of zee Earth and zee moon into orbit around Hawking.”

Katlyn brushed her hand down her granddaughter’s hair, so like her own at age five. “And, as you know, we found during the scout missions that Hawking’s fifteenth moon, Tyson, was also habitable, so now humanity has two homes. Here,” she smiled and looked up into the sky at a pale blue dot just rising over the giant planets edge. “And there, on Tyson.”

“Aye, and we’re on the move again,” Seamus said from the path as he rounded the corner of Katlyn and Elise’s cabin.

“Papa Shay!” Luna cried and ran to him.

“How’s my little moon goddess today?” he asked as he knelt to hug her, the days of tossing a child over his shoulder long gone.

“I’m learning about the Great Apparition and how you saved us,” she answered.

“You do know a fair few people were involved?” he asked, chortling. “It weren’t just me. I had the idea, I did, but Hermione, force o’ nature that she is, was the one made it work. She got the Wizengamot to agree, she got Hawking and Tyson on board, and she and Pan organized the scout missions. Without her and Pansy workin’ together we’d never have made it in time.”

Seamus braced himself on his staff and sat on the porch next to Katlyn. He looked sideways at his old friend. “What happened to the little red haired girl I met on the pitch all those years ago?”

Katlyn took his hand and smiled. “She grew up and had a red haired girl o’ her own, and that girl had this one.” She stroked Luna’s hair. “She’s worried about Lavender.”

Seamus laughed. “Aye, don’ be, my little one,” he said to Luna, and took her into his lap. “You and Lavender have a lot o’ time left. She’s a stubborn one, me beautiful Gryffindor lass is, and she don’ intend to leave you anytime soon. So, don’ be worrin’.”

“I know, auntie Nona says the same.”

Seamus laughed. “Your auntie Nona’s pretty smart, she is.”

“What’s this about ‘on the move again’,” Katlyn asked.

“Selene got back from the scouting mission. They’ve found three other systems with habitable moons,” Seamus said with a smile. “NASA wants us to Apparate a research facility to each one next year.” He smirked. “But the real excitement is Able Four C, Lyra Three A and Wilson Seven, Clarke, Ellison, and Asimov they want to call them. The terraforming is nearly complete. They want a settlement on each one by November.”

 

“Will they need Arouk for the new worlds?” Luna asked.

“Oui, if we stay zen a family of Arouk will need to be with zem,” Elise said.

Luna’s eyes lit. “A sister?”

Seamus hugged her. “Your mam has wanted you to have a sister since you were born, that’s no secret. Both she and Selene ‘ll have another I think.” He laughed. “They can wrestle for the third, how’s that?”

“We’ll be supporting Sorcha then,” Katlyn said and laughed.

Seamus laughed with her and looked around at his family. Though Selene, his and Lavender’s daughter, lived on Tyson, he viewed Katlyn, Sandra, Jason, Elise, and their children as his too. The universe had certainly given him a rollercoaster ride of a life. From being born wizard in a half and half family, to the Battle of Hogwarts, becoming an Auror, re-uniting with Lavender, training the Arouk, putting all the clues together to come up with the idea that saved the human race, to now being Director of Interplanetary Colonization in his dotage, he wouldn’t trade away any of it, good or bad. He had been forged in fire, tempered by loss, and saved by love. That they cast statues of him still embarrassed him mightily, and Lavender loved him all the more for the blush he showed when he was called to an unveiling.   

He hugged Luna to him thinking of his friend she was named for. The DA was aging, some were already gone. Most of the Weasleys now lived on Tyson, the Potter’s still lived in London and its environs, and he and Lavender hadn’t left the reserve. They had changed the world, the DA, very much for the better. Seamus Finnigan would be a name in the history books for millennia, but he had insisted that his name was down the list some. He’d made sure that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Pansy, Lavender, and all the heroes that gave their lives on the second of May were listed before him.

Humanity and the Kind were on the move, reaching out across the cosmos, and Seamus would lead, but he would lead from the chair in his study. The Arouk, in partnership with the Arouk Ta and the Kind, could Apparate anywhere within fifteen hundred light years of where the earth now sat, and they could take ships with them. Professor Hawking’s and then later Professor Tyson’s memories were all given over into the memories of the Kind, and the Kind as well as the Arouk knew the map of their part of the galaxy intimately. Fifty thousand systems lay waiting to explore, and they had only been to a few hundred.

The sky was different, but the reserve was still the same place, his refuge of peace. As he watched Luna scamper off to play with Elise and Malcom he smiled. His life had been dramatic, filled with adventure, and he had been loved, deeply. Yes, he had done a great deal for his fellow humans and the Kind, _and, me lad, you’re not done yet,_ he thought to himself.

“Where’s Kaddyl? I feel like going for a fly,” he told Katlyn as he rose from the porch.

 

 

 

~*~

 

 

Alls fair time line:

May 2nd 98 BOH; Seamus and Lavender 18

June 2003; The Game to The Wolf

July 03; The Dragon

Sept 03; The Healing

March 04; The Wizengamot

April 04; The Reserve

Aug. 04; The Show, The Doom, The Quibbler; Katlyn 10

Late Aug 04; The Attornment

Nov 04; The Case

May 05; The Muggles

July 05; The Arouk

Sept 05; The Island

May 08; The Training; Katlyn 14

June 2 2012; The Mission; Katlyn 18

Late September 12; Harry gets the prophecy

July 15; Mary and Hilde meet the Arouk

Late July 15; The Future part 1; Katlyn 22

Early March 16; the Future part 2 

July 16; The Future part 3 

November 2020; The destruction of Procyon; Katlyn 27; Lavender 40

2025 Sorcha Mclellen born

2026 Selene Finnigan born

2050; The 7400 are ready; Katlyn 56; Lavender 70

2055; The Great Apparition; Katlyn 61; Lavender 75

2066 Minerva Finnigan, Ni Arouk of Tyson born

2073 Luna Mclellen, Ni Arouk of Earth born

2078; The Future part 4; Katlyn 84; Lavender 98

 

**Author's Note:**

> Written for HPPORNINTHESUN 09 Thanks to Psyche29 for her great Beta skills.


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